Informing youngsters and employers about labour market prospects

Every two years the Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA) at Maastricht University produces medium-term labour market forecasts for 21 industry sectors and more than 100 occupational groups and education types. These forecasts, together with indicators for the current labour market situation, are gathered in an online database: the Labour Market Information System (AIS). In this article we describe our approach to labour market forecasting and present the content of the AIS. Although the project was initially started to help prospective students with their choice of study, the set of indicators has been broadened over time to include data and forecasts that are useful to employers, policy makers and labour market mediators. Because of space constraints, we focus on the relevance for prospective students and, to a lesser extent, employers.