The labor market is always changing, and as of 2025, things are looking interesting. Although the US unemployment rate has slowly risen to 4.2 percent, the job growth in the labor market has picked up.
Yet, there are many unfilled job openings in various industries, especially in technical and trade fields. These industries include manufacturing, leisure and hospitality, and specialized trades like electrical work, plumbing, and welding.
If you’re a technical and trade school administrator, knowing what is happening in the labor market is nonnegotiable. Staying attuned to these market changes allows you and other decision-makers to proactively respond and make meaningful improvements in your school programs.
Using labor market data will help your institution enhance its technical or trade programs and improve the employment rates of graduates.
There are advantages to using labor market data for your technical or trade school. Connecting the two is key to providing students with relevant, marketable programs to increase their likelihood of job placement after graduation. It is your way of helping the economy by filling the employment and skill gaps while enhancing your programs.
Let us better understand the unique importance of labor market data for trade and technical schools:
Improve your institution’s programs and the likelihood of graduates obtaining jobs through a labor market analysis.
One major data point to prioritize is skills. Trade and technical schools must identify precise skills that employers report as challenging to find in new hires. This is fueled by the increased need for critical trade skills in the U.S., specifically in the manufacturing and construction fields.
Technical and trade schools can use these skill gap insights to create targeted summer programs, curricula, and workshops. Depending on your institution, these skill gaps can vary — however, common in-demand trade skills can include:
It’s crucial to know what local employers are really looking for. To broaden your understanding, scrape local job boards for postings in target trades near your institution’s area. Their job listings will help your institution better understand its real-time needs for specific knowledge, skills, and certifications.
Once this information is gathered, you can analyze the exact requirements listed. Prioritize the skills and certifications that are in high demand and mentioned frequently. This data will help your technical or trade school fine-tune its programs to meet actual, local workplace needs. Allow your students to graduate job-ready, not just diploma-ready.
Knowing the industry is only one part of the equation — trade and technical schools should also know the employers. Conducting dedicated surveys or interviews with local employers may provide more personalized and detailed insights. Doing so will help you understand their hiring criteria and skill priorities.
These deeper insights can be used to help shape targeted programs and tailor the curriculum to meet employer-specific needs. Going the extra mile may also build trust-driven partnerships between your institution and employers. This partnership could also increase the number of graduates obtaining a diploma-relevant job in the area.
Technical and trade schools can also utilize internal data relevant to the labor market. For instance, you can use student data for the improvement of student and institutional success. Tracking how well your students perform on industry-recognized certification exams, for example, can highlight the effectiveness of your program.
Ensure technical program alignment with the employer demand. If employers value certain credentials, emphasize them to make your graduates more marketable and your programs more credible.
Salary expectations are a key factor for students and employers alike. For trade and technical schools looking to enhance their programs, it is another valuable labor market data point to consider researching. Analyzing starting salaries for graduates in target trades can help you adjust your program offering to potentially maximize their earning potential.
Additionally, providing students with realistic salary expectations can show the ROI of graduation from your institution. Consider using wage data as a tool for career counseling and program marketing.
Technology is integrated into our daily lives. It also changes every technical and trade job, from HVAC to health care. As such, including technological trends as another labor market data point is a must.
Trade and technical schools must stay on top of emerging tools, technologies, techniques, and automation trends. It is especially important to focus on technologies that are transforming fields relevant to your institution. Understanding these trends can help your programs stay ahead of the curve and future-proof your graduates.
The last labor market data point to consider is whether relevant local employers offer apprenticeships or internships. These opportunities are the perfect pathways to provide students with real-world experience while increasing their employability. They also allow your institution to strengthen its relationships with local employers.
Collecting, organizing, and managing data can be challenging. Using a system with integrated solutions can help technical and trade schools understand labor market data better to make informed program decisions.
Here is how institutions can integrate this data:
Actionable labor market data is essential for program and graduate success. For technical and trade schools, proactively using this data is nonnegotiable for course improvement and student workforce preparation. If your institution wants to take advantage of this opportunity, turn to Watermark.
With Watermark Planning & Self-Study, your technical or trade school can make data-driven decisions — a core principle of program management — within a single hub. Boost data transparency across your institution and align your operations with specific accreditation and assessment goals. Also, with our strategic partnership with Lightcast, we can further help supercharge your strategic planning and decision-making to deliver school success.
Request a demo of Planning & Self-Study to see it in action!
