I’m not sure where to start. What is LMI and how can I use it?
Labor Market Information (LMI) includes quantitative and qualitative data and analysis related to employment or the labor force, including information on jobs and people (employed and unemployed); occupations and industries; establishments and households; as well as wages and other factors that impact employment and/or the labor force.
LMI encourages data-driven decision making for a wide range of stakeholders and is important for understanding local and regional economies, efficient resource allocation, understanding compensation and wages, guiding policy and strategy, and more.
More information on how to use LMI can be found on DER’s Labor Market Information 101 page.
Can you provide a list of employers in my area and how many employees they have?
Most data published by DER is anonymized and does not include names of employers.
The exceptions are Largest Employers by Area (provides a list of employers and general size but does not include an exact employment count) and Find Employers by City and NAICS.
Largest Employers by Area provides a list of employers and general size but does not include an exact employment count. Find Employers by City and NAICS provides a list of employers and general size by industry and location but does not include an exact employment count.
These two data sets are contracted from a third-party called Data-Axle. According to Data-Axle: The purpose of the ARC Top Employers Database is solely for career exploration, job search, job development, employment support services, labor market research, and related public workforce system efforts. Please reach out to DL-Government-Support@data-axle.com if there is an interest in acquiring a separate dataset or interest in a separate data use case.
If you’re interested in understanding the number of workers in a specific area or industry but do not need actual employer names, consider Quarterly Census of Employment and Wage Data.
Am I able to access individual-level Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims or data?
If you are looking to access your personal UI claim, please reach out to the Department of Unemployment Assistance. The Department of Economic Research is unable to assist with unemployment insurance claims and does not publish individual UI claim data.
Aggregate information on initial and continued claims is available and updated each week.
Unemployment Insurance Claimant Profiles, demographic summaries of individuals receiving UI benefits, are also available state-wide and for Workforce Development Areas (WDAs).
How many people work in a certain industry in Massachusetts or a region within Massachusetts?
For the most accurate data on employment in different industries, consider Quarterly Census of Employment and Wage Data (QCEW). This data is updated each quarter though data cleaning and processing, which take time.
If you’re interested in the most recently available data, an alternative data source is Current Employment Statistics (CES). Please note that CES figures are modeled based on sample payroll data and are subject to annual revision.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics also publishes Economic Summaries for Massachusetts and “at-a-glance" style reports for many topics, including industry breakdowns.
What’s the typical salary for an occupation or industry?
For average wage information by occupation and/or area, consider Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
For average wage information by specific industry and area, consider Quarterly Census of Employment and Wage Data.
For wage information by occupation and industry, consider Staffing Pattern Data. Staffing pattern data can serve as a crosswalk to provide an idea of what occupations are typically employed in different industries by area. Staffing Pattern Data also includes the education typically required for entry in a specific occupation.
What occupations and industries are expected to grow in my area?
The DER Employment Projections page can be used to identify projected change and trends in employment to provide an idea of what the future workforce may look like. This page includes interactive dashboards and data references to explore short- and long-term employment projections for occupations and industries in Massachusetts and Workforce Development Areas (WDAs).
What are the latest job postings in my area?
DER provides a one-month snapshot of current job posting data in the Massachusetts Job Posting Interactive Data Visual. Click through the tabs to see companies and industries hiring, top job requirements, salaries, and more. Please note this dashboard does not include links to actual job postings that you can apply for – for that type of search, consider MassHire JobQuest.
Why isn’t data available for a specific occupation or industry?
Data published by DER in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics is anonymized to protect the identification of respondents. Confidentiality measures include suppressing certain values and data points, especially for smaller geographies and sample sizes.
Additional information is available from BLS for different data sources:
Why can’t I find data for New England Cities and Towns (NECTAs)?
As of March 2025, the geographies published for BLS programs including Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS), Current Employment Statistics (CES), Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), and Quarterly Census of Employment and Wage (QCEW) data have been updated to reflect the delineations based on the 2020 Census. More information is available from BLS. New England City and Town Areas (NECTAs) have been discontinued and have been replaced with county-based Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas.
DER’s Find Cities and Towns tool can be used to help identify which cities/towns in Massachusetts are part of each region/statistical area and vice versa.