The Nuts and Bolts of Emsi Burning Glass

What is Emsi Burning Glass Data?

Emsi Burning Glass brings together data from many disparate sources such as online job postings, resume and profile data, and government datasets. Our team translates it into user-friendly reports, making it easy to understand and work so that you can use it efficiently. The economy is massive and fast-moving, which is why you need the most complete, nuanced, up-to-date view of the labor market. 

Emsi Burning Glass’s Sources: 

1. Traditional Labor Market Information

What it is: The U.S. Government publishes data on industries, occupations, education, and demographics. 

This data is great for understanding the structure of an economy and it gives data on things like:

• supply of talent 
• diversity in occupations
• major trends in jobs and wages.

What you need to know: In order to use this information, we must also use the system that the government has created for organizing labor market data––the Standard Occupational Classification system. 

This system classifies all workers into one of 756 occupational categories (or SOC codes/occupational groups) according to their job type. Detailed occupations in the SOC with similar job duties, skills, education, and/or training, are grouped together—it’s a job family of related occupations (or a bucket of talent). 

Word to the wise: Because occupations tend to be broad groups of similar job types, traditional LMI lacks a certain level of detail. It’s comprehensive in covering the entire U.S., but the level of detail does not have much depth. 

2. Profile Data

What it is: Emsi Burning Glass collects millions of online profiles and resumes. These profiles contain public, self-reported information about individuals’

• city/state/nation of residence
• job history
• education history
• Skills

Emsi Burning Glass’s profile data can help you measure the supply of talent in a region and dive into what makes a job or an individual unique.

What you need to know: Using profile data is a great way to drill down into the details.

• Use the “Profile Analytics” report to sift through the large database 
• “Occupation Snapshot” to identify a specific subset of a broader occupation group. 

You can use this info to determine which skills and keywords are prevalent amongst occupation groups (and adjust your strategy accordingly!)

Word to the wise: Profile data is a great complement to LMI because it includes unprecedented levels of detail impossible for LMI to provide. However, not every worker in the U.S. is required to maintain an online profile, so not every job in the U.S. will be represented. Profile data is deep and detailed, but not entirely comprehensive. 

3. Job Postings

What it is: Online job postings are collected from hundreds of millions of job postings created by employers. JPA (Job Posting Analytics) can help measure the demand for talent in a given region and provides a detailed picture of the labor market (e.g. specific skills requested by employers). Another of JPA’s strengths is that it has virtually no time lag. 

What you need to know: While traditional LMI and profile data give us insights into the supply of talent, job postings data is necessary for understanding the demand for talent. 

• Explore job postings on its own OR 
• Use the “Occupation Snapshot” or “Market Comparison” reports for insight to the larger talent picture 

Word to the wise: The number of postings may be either higher or lower than the number of actual hires. 

• • Postings might outnumber hires when a company is trying hard to find talent.
  • Postings may be significantly fewer than hires because certain types of jobs (e.g., roofers, welders, and other blue-collar jobs) aren’t typically advertised online.
• When this happens, we deduplicate the postings as much as possible and then provide a realistic ratio of unique postings to hires.

4. Compensation Data

What it is: Emsi Burning Glass’s compensation data is built from government data with observations culled from job postings. Compensation data can help you estimate how much a position should be paid based on a worker’s actual experience and skills, rather than their mere job title.

What you need to know: Most of our compensation data is rooted in government data, so many of our compensation reports require an SOC code. 

• It could be helpful to first identify your occupation group and then modify that group with the skills and keywords that make your job more specific. 
• If you want to look specifically at advertised wage which comes from job postings, use the “Job Postings Competition” or “Job Postings Table” reports.

Word to the wise: Compensation data contains estimations, not hard numbers. Still, these estimations are reliable due to our rigorous methodology which allows us to reduce the rampant sample bias in self-reported compensation.

Emsi Burning Glass Job Titles: 

Emsi Burning Glass has a library of job titles to choose from in your searches. These titles connect you to the corresponding:

• government data sets 
• skills
• profiles
• job postings 
• and include the language used by employers

This gives a real-time view of new and emerging roles in the workforce. 

While roles are often categorized in helpful ways through SOC or O*NET, those sources

do not reflect the niche and constantly evolving nature of jobs in today’s economy.

Emsi Burning Glass Skills: 

Emsi Burning Glass also has a library of skills that we’ve collected from hundreds of millions of job postings, resumes, and online profiles that you can use in your searches. 

Download the PDF version of this training: Nuts-and-Bolts-of-Emsi-Burning-Glass