Introduction
Deciding what new courses colleges offer or expand is a significant decision for any US college or university. Starting a new course can attract new students, improve partnerships with employers, and ensure graduates are equipped with skills for changing career opportunities. However, without considering demand in the workforce and student interest, time, money, and resources will be spent without ensuring a sustainable intake.
Labor market data can be used to inform colleges in determining what courses to offer. By looking at job projections, salary data, what skills are in demand, employment patterns in certain regions, and feedback from employers, colleges can see where opportunities may arise. When combined with student interest and recruitment insights, it will help to determine what courses should be researched further, trialed, or rolled out.
Key Takeaways
- Using labor market data within the US will help colleges plan their courses with insight.
- Data from federal and state sources, job posts, salary data, and industry research can help give complementary views of demand.
- Labor market data doesn't necessarily mean students will want to join. Using labor market data in conjunction with student interest and recruitment insights will help.
- Predictive analytics can help to forecast potential intakes. Ensure these forecasts are validated by employers, students & academic leaders.
- Using Talisma Intelligent Prospecting will help give insight into economic demand whilst providing a targeted and personal approach to recruitment.
What Is Labor-Market Data in Higher Education?
Labor market data refers to data relating to employment levels, job growth projections, salaries, skills needed, and changes in industries. Colleges can use this data to determine what skills employers may require and if courses could help students gain the right skills.
Some of the key data to look at includes available jobs, long-term job projections, median salaries, skills and qualifications required for jobs, local employer activity, and graduate outcomes. It is important to consider this data holistically. Fast-growing jobs may require a different qualification than what is being considered. Also, just because there is a strong national trend, it may not translate to demand within your state/ metro.
Why Do Colleges Need Labor-Market Data to Predict Student Demand?
Align with Workforce Requirements
As industries adopt new technologies, employers will have different requirements. Using labor market data can help academic leaders determine what gaps exist in the current curriculum. For example, are you offering more data analysis, cybersecurity, health informatics, or supply chain analytics? This should be based on data from relevant jobs and local employers.
Identify Trends
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides data on national employment projections, including job growth, available jobs, salaries, and educational requirements by job role. They project that there will be an increase of 5.9 million jobs across the US from 2025 – 2035. Healthcare and social assistance are expected to continue to grow. This can help you determine what sectors to research further.
Minimize the Risk of Low Demand
Starting a new course will require investment in developing the curriculum, staff, technology, facilities, and recruitment. Using labor market data can help you understand if there is an employment reason to start the course. If there is little local employment, low salary progression, declining job projections, or employers are asking for skills that aren't taught in the curriculum, this could be an indication that the course won't have much demand. Whilst there will always be some risk, using data can give visibility to assumptions.
Better Recruitment Planning and Graduate Outcomes
Knowing what careers students are interested in can help colleges create relevant course information, marketing and events. Looking at graduate employment data, employer feedback, and published salary data will help colleges provide realistic outcomes. Be clear with students on what salary ranges and career pathways are available.
How Can Colleges Use Labor-Market Data to Anticipate Demand?
Identify High-Growth Industries and Jobs
Look at national & state employment projections. Are there any trends with job growth, job availability, job posts, industry data, or employer news? Using BLS data will give you an overview of the national trend. Consider talking to state workforce agencies and regional data to ensure it applies to what you offer.
Identify Skills Needed
Once you have identified which jobs to research further, look at the skills, knowledge, technologies, and education usually associated with the roles. Using ONET Online, sponsored by the Department of Labor in the US, will help you identify the skills needed for the role. This can help to create a skills matrix and compare it to what you currently offer to understand if starting a new course or targeting specific curriculum updates is justified.
Consider State, Metro, and Local Workforce Requirements
Just because there is a national trend, it may not apply to your local area. If you are close to a healthcare cluster, you might want to research health informatics or allied health pathways. If you serve a manufacturing area, you may want to research automation, logistics, or quality skills. Try to use state and local projections, regional economic reports, employer interviews and current job posts to determine if there is an opportunity within the areas you are recruiting from and where your graduates will likely work.
Student Interest
Whilst there may be demand for employment, there may not be student demand. Whilst there may be a positive outlook for a career, students may not be aware, have the requirements, or be interested. Compare your labor market data with indications from your institution:
- Page views and requests.
- Open days, information sessions & counseling sign-ups.
- Application & enrolment patterns for related courses.
- Student survey responses and career preferences.
- Engagement from your recruitment campaigns.
This will help you determine if you have a credible course from a workforce perspective and if you have students that will be interested.
Salary Data
Salary data can help students understand potential career pathways. Ensure you are giving context. Look at median salaries, entry requirements, regional differences, and usual years of experience. Ensure you are comparing data from employers and graduate outcomes. Don't assume that graduates will earn the median salary nationally.
Forecast Intake
Combining historical enrolment data, application trends, regional demographics, page engagement and labor market data can help to determine what the potential demand would be. Within your academic and recruitment teams, consider 3 scenarios:
- High demand: increased student interest & favorable employer demand.
- Expected demand: general trends match current data & historical trends.
- Low demand: fewer conversions from prospects, low local employment or low awareness.
This will help your leaders determine what resources you will need from staff, budget, facilities and recruitment investment to approve starting the course.
Validate Your Idea
Talk to employers in your region, professional bodies, alumni and staff. What skills are they struggling to recruit for? What qualifications do they value? Could you offer internships, applied projects or work placements? A short course, certificate or targeted campaign can help you test interest further before investing in a full course.
Key US Data Sources for Labor-Market Intelligence
| US Data Source | How Colleges Can Use It |
|---|---|
| US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) | National and regional employment projections, occupational openings, wages, and education requirements. |
| National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) / IPEDS | US postsecondary enrollment, program completions, graduation rates, admissions, and institutional comparisons. |
| O*NET OnLine | Occupational skills, knowledge, work activities, technologies, and job requirements. |
| State workforce agencies and Projections Central | State and local occupational projections and regional workforce context. |
| Regional employers and industry associations | Hiring plans, hard-to-fill roles, preferred credentials, and emerging skills. |
| Institutional research and recruitment records | Program interest, inquiries, applications, enrollment trends, and graduate outcomes. |
The Role of AI and Predictive Analytics in Academic Program Planning
AI can help you analyze large amounts of data, group job posts by skill, identify common themes from employer feedback, compare trends across regions, and estimate how many people will apply. This is most useful when used to support informed decision-making. As job posts can be duplicated, salary data may not be available, and short-term employment activity may not indicate long-term demand. Ensure academic leaders are validating findings against official data and directing employer & student research.
How Does Talisma Intelligent Prospecting Help Recruitment?
Intelligent Prospecting is a data-driven recruitment approach that combines economic demand intelligence, precision performance marketing, and personalized direct engagement to help universities identify suitable prospective students and reach them with relevant messaging. Talisma applies this approach through the following components:
- Economic Demand Intelligence: Powered by CohortScience, this component analyzes labor market trends, salary data, industry growth, and economic forecasts for individual academic programs. These insights help universities understand where demand may be concentrated and build ideal candidate profiles based on geographic, demographic, and interest-related signals.
- Precision Performance Marketing: Insights from demand analysis guide targeted advertising campaigns across platforms such as Meta and Google. Instead of relying on broad audience targeting, universities can focus their marketing efforts on prospective students who are more likely to be interested in specific programs.
- Personalized Direct Engagement: Talisma uses validated student inquiry data from YourCollegeApp to support personalized outreach through email, SMS, and LinkedIn. Messages can be tailored to prospective students' interests and the programs they are considering, helping universities initiate more relevant conversations.
- Campaign Performance and Optimization: Campaign results can be evaluated against established baselines, including qualified inquiries, inquiry-to-application conversion rates, cost per enrolled student, and course enrollments. These insights help recruitment teams assess performance and refine their targeting over time.
- Supporting Better Recruitment Decisions: Intelligent Prospecting helps universities turn demand intelligence into actionable recruitment strategies. It supports audience selection and personalized communication while leaving academic judgment, student research, and official labor market data as important considerations in the decision-making process.
Conclusion
When deciding what new courses to offer, it isn't enough to go on industry headlines or a few student inquiries. You need to ensure that the course you want to offer aligns with credible workforce demand, there will be a student audience, and it will fit with your academic strengths and resources. Using national & regional labor market data can help give you a starting point. Employers, student research & enrollment scenarios can help test the opportunity.
Using Talisma Intelligent Prospecting can help with your recruitment. It combines economic demand intelligence with targeted marketing & personal engagement with prospects. Using this in conjunction with official data from the US and your institutional research will help you make more informed decisions on what to focus your recruitment on.
FAQs
What data can colleges use to forecast student demand?
Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projections, state labor market data, ONET job data, NCES/IPEDS education data, employer interviews, student surveys & institutional inquiry/enrolment trends. Using a range of data will give a more balanced insight.
How can labor market data help with enrolment planning?
It helps identify which areas of careers to research. It will help determine what the workforce signals are compared to student interest, applications & historical enrolment. This can help with recruitment planning, course capacity and resource planning.
Can AI forecast demand for a new course?
AI can give an indication of potential demand by analyzing employment trends, student interest, demographics & historical enrolment. As this is forecasting, it should be validated by employers, students & academic leaders.
What is Talisma Intelligent Prospecting?
Talisma Intelligent Prospecting is data-driven recruitment that combines economic demand intelligence, targeted performance marketing & personal engagement to help identify more suitable prospects.
How is Intelligent Prospecting different from a CRM?
Intelligent Prospecting focuses on using economic demand data to identify good audiences for your courses, activating targeted marketing and personal engagement. It is not a CRM.
How often should colleges review labor market data?
Review key indicators during each academic planning cycle. In fast-moving areas, you may want to review more frequently. If assumptions change due to changes in local employment, employer requirements, student interest, or course outcomes, review more often.
