Examples & Solution Patterns

Overview

The solution patterns show how Lightcast MCP datasets and tools can be combined to answer practical workforce and labor market questions. They are not prescriptive applications. They are reusable analytical workflows that solution architects, AI engineers, talent intelligence teams, and labor market analysts can adapt for their own questions.

Each pattern starts with a business question, selects the relevant validated datasets, and then uses the implemented MCP tools to size markets, compare supply and demand, rank entities, examine trends, and summarize expected insights.

👉 The examples below represent common analytical workflows and recommended usage patterns. Actual implementations may vary based on available datasets, enabled tools, and customer requirements.

How to Use These Patterns

Use these patterns as planning templates:

Step	What to Decide	Relevant Documentation
Select the analytical lens	Decide whether the question is about labor demand, talent supply, or government-sourced occupational baselines.	Datasets
Discover the current contract	Confirm which tools, dimensions, metrics, and filters are valid for the selected dataset.	Tool Contracts
Normalize user language	Resolve occupations, skills, companies, schools, industries, and locations to canonical taxonomy IDs when needed.	Taxonomies
Run the analysis	Use the analysis tool that matches the business question: count, estimate, distribution, list, timeseries, or top.	Tools Overview
Interpret the result	Convert metrics and rankings into a customer-facing recommendation, comparison, or report.	Metrics

Core Solution Patterns

Talent Intelligence

Overview

Talent intelligence workflows combine labor demand, talent supply, and occupational baseline data to describe a workforce market. They help teams understand which skills are requested, which skills appear in the available workforce, which employers and schools are represented, and how the market compares to official occupational baselines.

Business Problem

Organizations need a reliable way to understand talent markets before making hiring, location, or investment decisions. A single view of job postings is not enough: teams often need to compare demand, supply, compensation signals, and official occupation baselines.

Who Is This For?

Audience	Common need
Talent intelligence teams	Build market views for priority occupations, skills, companies, and regions.
Workforce strategy teams	Compare hiring demand with available talent supply.
Enterprise analysts	Prepare evidence-backed talent market narratives.
AI engineers	Build assistants that answer labor market questions with validated data surfaces.

Recommended Datasets

Dataset	Use in this pattern
Job Posting Dataset	Measures employer demand, advertised skills, hiring activity, posting salary, and demand trends.
Profile Dataset	Measures talent supply, skills people report, employer affiliation, education background, and estimated wage signals.
Core LMI Datasets	Provides government-sourced occupational baselines for jobs, earnings, growth, openings, hires, and separations.

Recommended Tools

Tool	Use in this pattern
Glossary	Orient the workflow around the right dataset.
Tool Info	Confirm valid filters, metrics, and dataset-tool combinations.
Classify	Resolve occupations, skills, companies, industries, schools, and locations.
Count	Size demand and supply segments.
Top	Rank skills, employers, schools, industries, or other supported dimensions.
Estimate	Retrieve salary, wage, earnings, jobs, openings, or growth metrics.
Distribution	Understand salary, wage, or earnings spread.
Timeseries	Track job posting demand or salary trends over time.

Typical Workflow

Define the target market by occupation, skill, location, industry, company, or education signal.
Use job posting analysis to measure current hiring demand, advertised requirements, employer activity, and demand trends.
Use profile analysis to measure talent supply, skills represented in the workforce, education background, and employer affiliation.
Use Core LMI analysis when an official occupational baseline is needed for jobs, growth, openings, earnings, hires, or separations.
Compare demand, supply, and baseline signals to identify talent availability, competitive pressure, and market risk.

Example Questions

Which skills are employers requesting for software developers in a target region?
Which skills are most common among profiles for the same occupation and geography?
Which employers are hiring most actively in this market?
How does posting salary compare with estimated wages or occupational earnings?
Is the occupation growing, declining, or creating replacement demand in the selected region?

Expected Insights

High-demand skills and qualifications for a target occupation.
Talent supply depth by profile count, skill, employer, school, or location.
Competitive hiring pressure based on posting volume and unique companies.
Compensation and earnings ranges across posting, profile, and Core LMI signals.
Official market context for jobs, openings, growth, hires, and separations.

Talent Acquisition

Overview

Talent acquisition workflows use Lightcast MCP to help recruiting teams identify where demand is rising, which skills and requirements define a role, which employers are active in the market, and where talent supply may be available.

Business Problem

Recruiting teams need to know whether a role is hard to fill, which companies are competing for similar talent, and which requirements are common in the market. They also need representative posting examples to validate that filters are returning the intended role family.

Who Is This For?

Audience	Common need
Talent acquisition teams	Prioritize markets, refine role requirements, and understand recruiting competition.
Recruiters and sourcers	Identify high-value skills, employers, and locations for outreach strategies.
Recruiting operations teams	Track hiring demand and market conditions over time.
Solution architects	Build recruiting copilots that turn market questions into validated analyses.

Recommended Datasets

Dataset	Use in this pattern
Job Posting Dataset	Measures current employer demand, posting volume, unique companies, advertised skills, education, experience, salary, and trends.
Profile Dataset	Measures available talent supply signals, skills, employers, schools, education, and estimated wages.
Core LMI Datasets	Provides occupational jobs, earnings, openings, growth, replacements, hires, and separations for planning context.

Recommended Tools

Tool	Use in this pattern
Count	Size matching postings, unique hiring companies, and matching profiles.
Top	Rank employers, skills, schools, occupations, industries, or locations.
Timeseries	Monitor demand changes and posting salary trends.
Estimate	Retrieve posting salary, posting intensity, posting duration, profile wage, or occupational baseline metrics.
List	Review representative job postings, titles, companies, URLs, salary fields, or posting text.
Classify	Normalize job titles, occupations, skills, companies, industries, and locations before filtering.

Typical Workflow

Define the target role or skill set and resolve relevant taxonomy values.
Use job posting counts and top rankings to identify demand, active employers, and common requirements.
Use job posting timeseries to determine whether demand is increasing, declining, or seasonal.
Use profile counts and rankings to understand talent supply, common skills, employer affiliation, and education sources.
Use representative posting samples to validate the role definition and support recruiting strategy discussions.

Example Questions

How many unique postings exist for this occupation in the last quarter?
Which companies are posting the most similar roles?
Which skills appear most often in postings for this role?
Which skills are common among profiles in the same occupation or region?
What representative job postings should a recruiter review before opening a new search?

Expected Insights

Recruiting market size based on posting and profile counts.
Competitive employer landscape for similar roles.
Common skills, education levels, seniority, and experience expectations.
Demand trend direction and posting intensity.
Representative postings for qualitative validation of role scope.

The list tool returns job posting samples only. Lightcast MCP does not expose a profile-listing workflow in the validated tool inventory.

Workforce Planning

Overview

Workforce planning workflows help organizations understand hiring demand, internal or external talent supply signals, occupational baselines, compensation expectations, and regional labor market conditions before making role, location, or capacity decisions.

Business Problem

Planning teams need to decide where roles can be filled, which skills may constrain growth, and whether a labor market has enough supply to support business goals. They also need to distinguish current hiring demand from longer-term occupational baselines.

Who Is This For?

Audience	Common need
Workforce planning teams	Estimate role demand, supply, openings, growth, and location feasibility.
HR strategy leaders	Compare talent availability with business expansion needs.
Finance and operations partners	Evaluate workforce scenarios using market evidence.
Labor market analysts	Combine demand, supply, and government-sourced baseline metrics.

Recommended Datasets

Dataset	Use in this pattern
Job Posting Dataset	Measures current demand, posting trends, posting intensity, salary, and duration signals.
Profile Dataset	Measures workforce supply, skills, education, employer affiliation, and estimated wage signals.
Core LMI Datasets	Measures jobs, median earnings, growth, replacements, openings, residence jobs, hires, and separations.

Recommended Tools

Tool	Use in this pattern
Count	Size demand and supply segments.
Estimate	Retrieve salary, wage, jobs, earnings, openings, growth, hires, and separations metrics.
Distribution	Assess salary, estimated wage, or earnings spread.
Timeseries	Track job posting demand, salary, and hiring activity by interval.
Top	Identify leading skills, employers, schools, industries, or locations in supported datasets.

Typical Workflow

Define the workforce segment by occupation, skill, region, industry, or employer context.
Measure current demand using job posting counts, rankings, salary estimates, and trends.
Measure supply using profile counts, skills, employers, schools, and estimated wage signals.
Use Core LMI estimates for jobs, openings, replacements, growth, hires, and separations.
Compare the signals to identify feasible locations, constrained skills, and market risks.

Example Questions

Which regions have enough profile supply for this occupation?
How many jobs and openings exist for this occupation in the target area?
Are postings for this role increasing or decreasing over time?
Which skills are most associated with the workforce segment?
What salary, wage, or earnings ranges should be considered in planning assumptions?

Expected Insights

Demand and supply signals for a target occupation, skill, or region.
Labor market capacity using jobs, openings, replacements, and growth.
Market feasibility for role expansion or location decisions.
Compensation expectations based on salary, wage, and earnings metrics.
Leading skills, schools, employers, or industries associated with the workforce segment.

Labor Market Insights

Overview

Labor market insights workflows explain what is happening in a market and why it matters. They combine near-real-time job posting signals, profile-based workforce signals, and Core LMI occupational baselines to support analysis, reporting, and advisory work.

Business Problem

Analysts need to answer questions about demand, supply, compensation, growth, openings, and market structure without mixing unsupported datasets or metrics. They need workflows that are repeatable and traceable to validated Lightcast MCP capabilities.

Who Is This For?

Audience	Common need
Labor market analysts	Produce evidence-backed regional, occupation, or skill market analysis.
Economic development teams	Understand demand, supply, employers, occupations, and earnings.
Research teams	Compare job posting signals with workforce and government-sourced baselines.
Enterprise customers	Monitor strategic labor markets.

Recommended Datasets

Dataset	Use in this pattern
Job Posting Dataset	Measures demand, posting trends, employer activity, advertised skills, and salary signals.
Profile Dataset	Measures talent supply, skills, employer affiliation, education, and estimated wage signals.
Core LMI Datasets	Measures occupational employment, earnings, growth, openings, hires, separations, and earnings distributions.

Recommended Tools

Tool	Use in this pattern
Count	Quantify postings, companies, profiles, schools, or companies represented in profiles.
Top	Identify leading employers, skills, schools, industries, occupations, or geographies.
Estimate	Retrieve aggregate salary, wage, earnings, jobs, openings, growth, hires, or separations metrics.
Distribution	Examine salary, wage, or earnings percentiles and spread.
Timeseries	Monitor posting volume and salary movement over time.

Typical Workflow

Select the market definition: occupation, skill, location, industry, company, or education segment.
Use job posting tools to measure demand volume, employer activity, trends, and advertised compensation.
Use profile tools to measure supply composition, skills, schools, employers, and estimated wages.
Use Core LMI tools to establish official occupational jobs, growth, openings, and earnings context.
Synthesize results into a market narrative with clearly labeled demand, supply, and baseline signals.

Example Questions

What are the leading employers, skills, and occupations in this market?
How has posting demand changed over the last six months?
What are the salary, wage, or earnings ranges for this occupation?
Which schools or education programs are represented in the profile population?
How do job posting signals compare with government occupation baselines?

Expected Insights

A market narrative grounded in validated labor demand, supply, and baseline datasets.
Trend direction for job posting demand and salary metrics.
Leading employers, skills, schools, occupations, or regions.
Compensation and earnings context across postings, profiles, and Core LMI.
Evidence for regional, occupation, skill, or industry analysis.

Executive Reporting

Overview

Executive reporting workflows turn detailed labor market analysis into concise, decision-ready summaries. They help leaders understand market size, competitive pressure, talent availability, compensation context, and changes over time.

Business Problem

Leadership teams need clear answers to questions such as "Can we hire this talent?", "Where should we expand?", "How competitive is this market?", and "What has changed?" The underlying analysis may require several datasets, but the output should be concise and decision-oriented.

Who Is This For?

Audience	Common need
Executives and HR leaders	Understand the market implications of workforce decisions.
Talent strategy teams	Summarize complex analyses for leadership audiences.
Solution architects	Build reporting assistants that retrieve validated metrics and rankings.
Enterprise customers	Monitor priority occupations, skills, employers, and regions.

Recommended Datasets

Dataset	Use in this pattern
Job Posting Dataset	Provides demand, employer activity, salary, duration, intensity, and trend signals.
Profile Dataset	Provides supply, skills, employers, schools, education, and estimated wage signals.
Core LMI Datasets	Provides jobs, openings, growth, earnings, hires, separations, and official baseline context.

Recommended Tools

Tool	Use in this pattern
Count	Create headline market size metrics.
Estimate	Add salary, wage, earnings, jobs, openings, growth, hires, or separations estimates.
Timeseries	Show changes in demand or salary over time.
Top	Identify leading employers, skills, schools, industries, or locations.
Distribution	Provide compensation or earnings range context.

Typical Workflow

Define the executive question and the target workforce segment.
Retrieve a small set of headline metrics: demand size, supply size, compensation signal, and baseline context.
Add ranked context such as top employers, skills, schools, or industries.
Add trend context where the question depends on recent change.
Present the result as a concise summary that labels each signal by dataset.

Example Questions

Is this market large enough to support a hiring plan?
Which employers are creating the most competition?
Which skills are the biggest market signals for this workforce segment?
What compensation or earnings range should leaders expect?
Is demand increasing, stable, or declining?

Expected Insights

Leadership-ready market size and trend indicators.
Competitive employer and skills context.
Compensation and earnings benchmarks.
Supply and demand comparison for workforce planning.
Clear distinction between posting demand, profile supply, and Core LMI baselines.

Executive reporting works best when outputs label the dataset behind each signal. For example, posting demand, profile supply, and Core LMI occupational baselines measure different things.

Additional Solution Patterns

The following additional patterns are supported by the validated dataset and tool inventories.

Compensation Benchmarking

Overview

Compensation benchmarking workflows compare advertised salary, profile estimated wage, and government-sourced occupational earnings signals. This helps teams evaluate whether pay expectations align with demand, available talent, and occupational baselines.

Business Problem

Teams need to benchmark compensation using multiple labor market lenses without treating different data sources as interchangeable. Job postings show advertised salary where available, profiles provide estimated wage signals, and Core LMI provides occupational earnings baselines.

Who Is This For?

Audience	Common need
Compensation teams	Compare salary, wage, and earnings signals for a role or market.
Talent acquisition teams	Understand whether advertised salary is competitive.
Workforce planners	Estimate compensation assumptions for scenarios and location planning.
Analysts	Explain compensation spread, not just median values.

Recommended Datasets

Dataset	Use in this pattern
Job Posting Dataset	Provides advertised salary metrics and salary distributions for filtered posting markets.
Profile Dataset	Provides median estimated wage and estimated wage distributions for profile segments.
Core LMI Datasets	Provides median earnings and earnings distributions for occupations and regions.

Recommended Tools

Tool	Use in this pattern
Estimate	Retrieve median, average, minimum, or maximum salary where supported, median estimated wage, or median earnings.
Distribution	Compare salary, wage, or earnings percentiles and spread.
Count	Size posting or profile segments before interpreting compensation signals.
Classify	Resolve occupations, locations, industries, companies, or skills used in filters.

Typical Workflow

Define the role, skill, occupation, location, industry, or company segment.
Use job posting estimates and distributions to assess advertised salary.
Use profile estimates and distributions to assess estimated wage signals for relevant talent supply.
Use Core LMI estimates and distributions to assess occupational earnings baselines.
Compare medians, ranges, and percentiles while labeling each signal by dataset.

Example Questions

What is the median advertised salary for postings matching this role and region?
What is the estimated wage distribution for profiles in this workforce segment?
What are the 10th, 50th, and 90th percentile earnings for the occupation?
Is advertised salary aligned with talent supply and occupational earnings signals?
How wide is the compensation range in this market?

Expected Insights

Advertised salary benchmarks for current hiring demand.
Estimated wage benchmarks for talent supply segments.
Government-sourced occupational earnings context.
Compensation spread across percentiles rather than only a single median.
Evidence for pay range planning, market competitiveness, and location comparison.

Education Pipeline Analysis

Overview

Education pipeline analysis workflows help teams understand the relationship between workforce segments, schools, programs, education levels, and employer demand. They are useful when planning talent pipelines, university partnerships, or education-aligned workforce strategies.

Business Problem

Organizations need to know which schools or education programs are represented in a workforce segment and which education requirements appear in job postings. This helps connect hiring strategies to realistic talent pipeline signals.

Who Is This For?

Audience	Common need
Talent acquisition teams	Identify schools, programs, and education backgrounds associated with target talent.
Workforce planning teams	Understand education signals related to priority occupations or skills.
Education and partnership teams	Evaluate potential education pipeline relationships.
Labor market analysts	Connect education background with occupations, skills, employers, and locations.

Recommended Datasets

Dataset	Use in this pattern
Profile Dataset	Provides schools, programs, education levels, graduation years, skills, employers, occupations, and profile counts.
Job Posting Dataset	Provides education requirements, program signals, skills, occupations, employers, and posting counts.

Recommended Tools

Tool	Use in this pattern
Top	Rank schools, programs, education levels, skills, employers, or occupations where supported.
Count	Size profile and posting segments.
Estimate	Add wage or salary context to education-related segments.
Classify	Resolve schools, education programs, education levels, occupations, skills, and locations.

Typical Workflow

Define the occupation, skill, employer, region, or education segment to analyze.
Use profile rankings to identify schools, programs, education levels, and skills represented in the workforce segment.
Use job posting analysis to identify education requirements and education program signals in employer demand.
Compare education supply signals with employer requirements.
Use wage or salary estimates where compensation context is needed.

Example Questions

Which schools are most represented among profiles for this occupation and region?
Which education programs are associated with this workforce segment?
Which education levels appear in job postings for the target role?
Which employers are associated with profiles from a given school or program?
How do education background signals compare with advertised job requirements?

Expected Insights

Schools and programs associated with target workforce segments.
Education level and program signals in job posting demand.
Talent pipeline opportunities by school, program, skill, employer, or region.
Education-aligned supply and demand context.
Wage or salary context for education-related workforce segments.