Lightcast data comes from a mix of sources: government labor market information, job postings, profiles, and proprietary models.

Depending on customer subscription access, users can choose between four "nation" options:

Due to the reliance on government data, the available data is not entirely consistent across these nations. For example, demographic information is collected and available more often in the United States than other regions.

Additionally, these datasets are built to provide knowledge and insight that aligns with the local regions. The US, UK, and Canada use different occupation taxonomies, for example, and Lightcast has developed a single international Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy.

The 'national datasets' provide data in the locally recognized taxonomies (occupation, industry, education classifications, etc) as well as the Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy.

The 'Global' dataset uses consistent taxonomies across the nations to enable internationally comparative data.

For each dataset, Lightcast reruns government data 2-4 times per year in what we call 'dataruns'. Users are able to access the most recent two dataruns in the platform at all times.