| Issue 17 | December 2009 |
Research and policy e-bulletin covering employment and skills issues, from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills
The focus of this e-bulletin from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills is on employment and skills issues from research and policy perspectives. For further information on the research and policy activities of the Commission please click here.
Each month the briefing contains a "monthly spotlight" feature. Each edition focuses on a key issue relating to the work of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and its partner organisations. In this edition’s Spotlight feature we examine the 2009 Pre-Budget Report.
Content
this month includes...
Employment
Fathers, Family and Work
Work and Worklessness in Deprived Neighbourhoods
The Impact of the Crisis on Employment in Europe
Gender Segregation in the Northern Ireland Workplace
Recession – the National Picture
The Labour Market across the UK in the Current Recession
Jobs and the UK Low-Carbon Transition
Achieving Equality for Women and Men at Work
Helping Young People not in Education, Employment or Training in England
Skills
Impact of Basic Skills Training
Research on Decisions About and Routes through Higher Education
Lessons from Workplace Learning in Scottish SMEs
The Widening Education Gap in Britain
Effective Practice in Raising Young People’s Aspirations
Northern Ireland Skills Monitoring Survey
The National Skills Strategy
Higher Ambitions
Review of STEM in Northern Ireland
Essential Skills Wales
Competitiveness
ONS – National and Regional Monthly Labour Market Statistics
| Employment |
Research and Evaluation
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published findings of research that investigated fathers’ experiences of and attitudes to work and care for their children. The research report notes the increased participation of women in employment over the last 30 years and the fact that men’s contribution to childcare has not increased at the same rate. It suggests that relatively little is known about men’s employment in relation to their family lives and observes an ongoing debate about how fathers can spend more time with their families. Within this context an online survey (conducted by YouGov) of over 4500 parents, supported by qualitative data from several online forums involving a range of fathers’ groups, found that the majority of modern fathers are ’non-traditional’ in their views. For example, the research found that:
- Half of all fathers that responded to the survey felt that they spent too much time at work and 42 per cent believed they spent too little time with their children.
- Fathers were more likely (55 per cent of those surveyed) than mothers (41 per cent) to believe that the parent who is paid less should be the one to stay at home with the children, regardless of gender.
- A significant minority of fathers said that they take advantage of greater flexibility in the workplace, although the availability of flexible working varies widely by occupation.
- 54 per cent of surveyed fathers supported plans to allow the transfer of mothers’ maternity leave to fathers.
The EHRC suggest that these findings show that fathers’ attitudes towards parenting do not match their actual work and care arrangements. It recommends a series of incremental changes to make family leave for men longer, better paid and more flexible. It also proposes a publicity drive to raise awareness of the right to request flexible working and incentives for reluctant employers by subsidising those who offer new fathers flexible working arrangements.
Full details here
Work and Worklessness in Deprived Neighbourhoods
The contrast between policy assumptions about and personal experiences of work and worklessness in deprived neighbourhoods are the subject of a recent study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Findings from interviews conducted with 180 residents living in six deprived neighbourhoods have called into question the validity of assumptions embedded in policy about the benefits of employment and the reasons that people do not have jobs. The findings of the study are grouped under four main headings and include the following:
- The availability of work. Residents stated that, due to a lack of suitable jobs, finding work was difficult before the economic downturn and the recession has exacerbated these difficulties.
- The quality and benefits of work. Although employment can contribute to self-esteem and a sense of independence, many residents are trapped in ‘poor work’, defined by low pay, long hours and job insecurity. Such conditions can act as a disincentive to leave benefits.
- Work and family life. Some residents in low-paid work are unable to support childcare costs and there is a lack of flexibility within jobs to fulfil parental responsibilties.
- Occupational mobility. Some interviewees lacked the chance to progress in their current job and the research also found that training and education opportunities can be restricted by poverty and parenting duties.
The report suggests that the quality of available jobs and affordable childcare should be at the heart of UK Government policy.
Full details here
The Impact of the Crisis on Employment in Europe
Analysis published recently by Eurostat, the European Commission’s statistical support service, provides an update on how the current economic crisis is affecting employment in the EU27 member states. The analysis focuses on how labour market flexibility has impacted upon unemployment figures, whether workers on temporary contracts are hit harder and the differences in job losses by level of education. It finds that the fall in levels of production (by 4.9 per cent in the EU27 between the second quarters of 2008 and 2009) has not been matched by a corresponding fall in employment (1.9 per cent for the same period). It is suggested that this may be due to a time lag between changes in growth and employment, but it could also be because many employers have reduced the working hours of staff rather than make them redundant.
Eurostat has found evidence of this through the European Labour Force Survey, observing that the share of part-time workers in the EU27 has increased in the last year by 0.5 per cent, which is relatively a larger increase than is usually seen. A significant fall in the average number of hours worked by full-timers has also been detected, down from 41.0 to 40.3 hours a week per person.The option of making fewer people redundant by cutting hours may have limited overall job losses, but Eurostat suggests that employment levels cannot be expected to rise as soon as production levels begin to rise.
The figures have also highlighted the much sharper fall in employment among workers with temporary contracts (6.3 per cent) compared with those with a permanent contract (1.3 per cent) over the same period. Another subgroup that has been seriously affected is people with lower levels of education, many of whom were working in sectors such as construction and the automotive industry which have been severely affected by the crisis. Finally, the figures show that it has become increasingly difficult to find a job during the crisis, with a fall in the number of people finding a job from 3 million in the second quarter of 2008 to 2.4 million in the corresponding period of 2009.
Full details here
Gender Segregation in the Northern Ireland Workplace
A recent article in the Journal of Vocational Education and Training looks at initiatives that aim to encourage women into non-traditional employment, with a particular focus on the Women into Non-Traditional Sectors (WINS) project in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The project, which ran from 2005 until 2008, developed mechanisms for overcoming the barriers faced by women accessing employment in non-traditional sectors. These included providing volunteers with confidence-building measures, non-traditional taster sessions, gender awareness and personal development training.
The article finds that the project had a positive impact on the women involved in terms of preparing them for employment in general and not just in non-traditional sectors. It also contends that such initiatives are limited in that they do not fundamentally address the barriers that women face in undertaking non-traditional jobs. It is argued that organisations in traditionally male-dominated sectors need to fully commit to changing workplace culture so that people from non-traditional backgrounds can be admitted, retained and supported.
The full reference of the article is: Potter, M. and Hill, M. (2009) ‘Women into non-traditional sectors: addressing gender segregation in the Northern Ireland Workplace’, Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 61(2), pp.133-150.
Recession – the National Picture
A report by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) includes analysis of the impact of the recession on the UK labour market. The analysis is part of a study of the South East of England labour market for the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA). A chapter on the national picture of the recession describes the rapid economic decline in the last quarter of 2008 noting that the volume of output in the manufacturing industry fell by 5.1 per cent over the second half of 2008 and by 0.9 per cent in service industries and 1.1 per cent in construction. IES observes the high degree of uncertainty about how long the credit crunch will last and quotes a Treasury forecast projecting a contraction of GDP growth of around 3 per cent during 2009.
Using Office for National Statistics data on claimant counts, vacancies and the Labour Force Survey, IES describe the prospects for the UK labour market in this economic context. The chapter includes graphs showing that during the previous 12 months unemployment has been rising rapidly, the number of vacancies has been falling and the employment rate has been in decline. It is suggested that relatively weak conditions will persist some time after the economy returns to growth.
However, it is also observed that, as a result of greater labour market flexibility, employers are better able to match the supply of labour to demand through flexible working hours. This means that measures such as reducing hours or shifts are possible alternatives to laying-off workers. IES also note other practices that have been used by employers such as negotiated wage reductions and extended leave periods during times of low demand. Finally, the chapter describes how higher skilled people are more likely to stay in work as a result of ‘bumping down’ in the labour market. With available jobs going to people with higher qualifications than usual, those who might normally have got those jobs are squeezed out. This means that those with low level, or obsolete, skills form a disproportionately large part of the pool of unemployed people. It is suggested that as skills shortages during the recovery phase can slow growth, there is a need for employers to preserve their skills base.
The chapter on the national picture starts on page 10 of the report, which can be accessed here
The Labour Market across the UK in the Current Recession
The Office for National Statistics has published a document providing details of labour market trends during the course of the current recession. It includes comparisons of changes in employment and unemployment rates between regions of the UK, urban and rural areas and also quintiles of deprivation. The document covers trends from the start of the recession, during the three months to April 2008, up to the three months to September 2009. During this time, Northern Ireland has experienced the largest fall in the employment rate, at 4.2 percentage points while the East of England had the smallest fall, at 0.6 percentage points. Other notable findings in the analysis are:
- The number of jobs in the UK has fallen since the start of the recession, with the manufacturing and construction industries experiencing the largest percentage falls.
- The West Midlands had the largest increase in the unemployment rate (by 3.9 percentage points) while the East Midlands had the smallest increase (1.8 percentage points).
- The claimant count has more than doubled in the UK as a whole and the claimant count rate increased the most in the North East of England.
- Changes in labour flows between employment, unemployment and inactivity mean that the increase in unemployment is both from individuals losing their job and individuals making themselves available for work.
- A comparison of the twelve months to March 2008 and the corresponding period in 2009 shows slightly more decline in the labour market in urban areas than rural areas.
Full details here
Policy Analysis
Jobs and the UK Low-Carbon Transition
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has published a report that analyses the potential impact of the transition to a low-carbon economy on jobs in the United Kingdom. It calls for ‘smart’ government intervention to ensure that the UK economy is equipped with the right skills for new ‘green’ industries to develop successfully. It also suggests that plans need to be made that identify those industries and jobs that may be at risk from the move to a low-carbon economy in order to avoid a potential backlash against climate change policies. The report discusses the uncertainty of projecting the number of jobs that could be affected by attempts to reduce Britain’s emissions of greenhouse gases and also discusses the type of jobs that may be created. IPPR use analysis of the Labour Force Survey and a survey of existing low carbon employers to find that there are good prospects in the likely growth sectors in terms of high-quality job creation. However, it also identifies four broad types of skills shortages in the emerging low-carbon economy. These are:
- Specific skills needs that require major investments in training.
- Those that simply mean ‘topping up’ existing workforce skills.
- Generic skills gaps common to the whole UK economy.
- A general understanding of issues relating to the reduction of emissions.
Problems with existing skills policy identified in the report include difficulties in identifying future skills needs; the inflexibility of funding for adult skills; and the lack of targeted support in areas of the economy where funding can have the most impact. It is suggested, therefore, that the focus on employer demand in policy can be problematic in relation to low carbon skills. The report contains recommendations for action by the UK Government, Sector Skills Councils, and other agencies, such as:
- Recruitment strategies aimed at women, who are less likely to be found working in some of the growth sectors.
- A Low Carbon Industrial Strategy more closely linked to the Government’s welfare reform agenda.
- Sector Skills Councils and careers advice specialists working together to develop sector-specific career ladders.
- Government intervention in low carbon technology associated market failures.
- Providing small businesses with access to finance for low carbon innovation.
- The UK Commission for Employment and Skills to have a coordinating role in ensuring that various sector skills strategies work together and do not leave gaps.
Full details here
Achieving Equality for Women and Men at Work
The Government Equalities Office (GEO) has produced a document that outlines the current policy situation regarding equality for women in the workplace. It states that women still face major inequalities at work with the pay gap between men and women currently at 22.6 per cent. Among the causes of this are: some women’s need to take time out of the labour market to look after children or relatives; the lack of quality part-time and flexible work; gender stereotyping; and occupational segregation. Other barriers include women still being the primary carers of children and adults and also the fact that women are far less likely than men to obtain senior positions in companies.
The document notes five main ways that the UK Government has been tackling these issues:
- Help for both women and men to balance work and family life.
- Addressing the gender skills gap and occupational segregation with advice, support and training.
- Support for women’s enterprise.
- Making inequality in the workplace more visible so that organisations take action.
- Encouraging positive action and good practice in the workplace.
In addition to providing details on what has been done and what future measures have already been planned under each of these headings, the document sets out the Government’s next steps in progressing towards full gender equality. These include:
- Looking at how the current recession is affecting working patterns.
- Considering the 2006 recommendations of the Women and Work Commission for Government action to reduce the gender pay and opportunities gap. Earlier this year, this reconvened Commission published an assessment reporting on how well these original recommendations had been adopted.
- Exploring ways of supporting managers to develop the supply of quality part-time posts.
- Offering opportunities for women to gain new skills through the expansion of adult apprenticeships and the development of the new Adult Advancement and Careers Service.
- Investigating what can be done to increase women’s representation on public and private sector boards.
Full details here
Helping Young People not in Education, Employment or Training in England
New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), an organisation providing funding advice to charities, has published a report on young people not in education, employment or training and what the Government and the charity sector is doing to address the problem. It observes that in 2008 almost 208,000 young people aged 16-18 struggled to make the transition from school to Further Education or the workplace. The wide range of backgrounds of this group of young people is noted and particular importance is placed on helping the 4 per cent of young people who have not been in education, employment or training for over a year by their eighteenth birthday.
Charities are described as offering a variety of approaches to helping young people, such as mentoring, motivational activities and basic skills training. It is suggested that some government-provided services fail the most at-risk young people. The report highlights the characteristics of successful charitable projects, including those that provide one-to-one support, incorporate fun, challenging activities, help young people work towards defined goals, and cultivate good relationships with families and schools.
Full details here (please note that in order to obtain the free full report, you must register on the website).
| Skills |
Research and Evaluation
Impact of Basic Skills Training
The economic returns to the possession of literacy and numeracy skills are the subject of a research report for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy (NRDC) summarises findings from studies that used various UK data sets to investigate the impact of having basic skills on earnings and employment. Conclusive evidence was found of a positive effect, particularly for those who have acquired basic skills prior to adulthood. A positive effect was also found for those who have gained basic skills during adulthood, but it was discovered that earnings returns can take longer to be realised for this group due to their greater likelihood of suffering multiple deprivation.
Full details here
Research on Decisions About and Routes through Higher Education
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has published two research reports describing perceptions of and the determinants of the various routes into and through higher education.
A study by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) explores the attitudes of young people in England towards higher education. Its findings are based on the results of the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) and also data from the Youth Cohort Study. The findings include the following:
- Most young people recognised the benefits of a degree in the labour market and although the cost disadvantages are widely recognised, it is not a key factor in determining non-participation.
- Gender, ethnicity and social class differences are linked with subject preferences. For example young women favour medicine and the social sciences over technology and engineering related subjects and young people from less advantaged backgrounds or ethnic minority groups were more likely to be attracted to vocational subjects.
- Those from less advantaged social backgrounds were also more likely to favour alternatives to the traditional model of university experience.
The experiences of students taking alternative routes into and pathways through higher education (HE) is the subject of research by York Consulting. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 334 students from a range of backgrounds in order to understand their motivations for entering HE and their experiences of HE study. The study was commissioned in the context of the UK Government’s commitment to widen participation in HE by encouraging routes that are relevant to a broader range of students and not just the ‘traditional’ route of school leavers with A-level qualifications.
Data from the University and College Admissions Service (UCAS) shows that 65 per cent of applicants to full time HE courses chose a traditional route and 81 per cent of full time applicants chose a traditional pathway (that is, an honours degree course at a university). The research also found that there was a marked difference in the figures for routes into HE, from the perspective of ethnic groups. Whilst the overall average for selecting an alternative route into HE was 35%, the proportion of students from black ethnic groups was much higher, at 65%. In contrast, students from Chinese backgrounds were the least likely to choose an alternative route into HE: 23% of this group chose this route.
The qualitative part of the study helped to identify factors affecting students’ decisions to enter HE, the pathways chosen and their early HE experiences. These include:
- The importance of early academic experiences in determining routes into HE.
- Family encouragement to enter HE was more associated with those following traditional routes.
- Choice of pathway through HE can be more limited for mature students.
- HE choices can be affected by course fees.
- The A-level experience provides an easier transition to HE.
The report by IES is available here and the report by York Consulting is available here
Lessons from Workplace Learning in Scottish SMEs
Identifying reasons for inequalities in access to workplace learning is the aim of an article recently published in the International Journal of Lifelong Education. This article describes findings of research which was undertaken by the University of Edinburgh and centres around case-studies of six Scotland-based small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The research focused on each organisation’s goals, the nature of their workforces and the role played by formal education in workforce development. It found that there were differences in approach between knowledge intensive organisations and traditional manufacturing and training organisations. The first type of enterprise tended to have a culture of learning more embedded in working life while the second type had less focus on wider growth and development and only encouraged employees to undertake courses with direct relevance to their current role.
A general scepticism was found among all the case study employers towards lifelong learning, with company profits placed as a higher priority. This meant that they often preferred to recruit people who already had the necessary skills and qualifications. It is suggested in the article that these findings call into question the belief of the Scottish Government that employers will take the lead in increasing social mobility through workplace learning programmes.
The full reference of the article is: Riddell, S., Ahlgren, L. and Weedon, E. (2009) ‘Equity and lifelong learning: lessons from workplace learning in Scottish SMEs’, International Journal of Lifelong Education, 28(6), pp.777-795.
The Widening Education Gap in Britain
The University and College Union (UCU) has released figures that suggest a widening education gap between areas of England, Scotland and Wales. It provides percentages of the working age population in each parliamentary constituency that have degrees or have no qualifications. The difference between the constituencies with the largest and smallest proportions of their population with degrees is considerable, with 64 per cent of the population of Richmond Park in London having degrees, compared with just 10 per cent of the residents of Birmingham, Hodge Hill. The UCU state that this gap is widening as constituencies with the highest university participation rates have seen rapid increases in the number of residents with degrees. This is in contrast with the lowest ranked constituencies which have seen a decline in academic achievement. The UCU’s paper also observes the regions with a high proportion of high or low-ranked constituencies, noting that eight of the 20 constituencies with the highest proportion of people with no qualifications are in the West Midlands. Furthermore, 17 of the 25 constituencies with the most graduates are in London, although it is noted that there are also many areas of the capital where a large proportion of the working age population have no qualifications at all.
Full details here
Effective Practice in Raising Young People’s Aspirations
The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has published findings of research that aimed to identify effective practice in raising the aspirations of young people. The study consisted of an extensive literature review, stakeholder interviews, consultation with peer reviewers and case studies of six organisations involved with projects working to raise the aspirations of young people. The purpose of this approach was to find examples of interventions that have been effective in engaging or re-engaging young people with learning.
The research report emphasises the complex and multi-dimensional nature of young people’s aspirations and distinguishes between what people can hope to achieve and what they can expect to achieve considering their social and residential backgrounds. It also highlights how the process of learning can have a positive impact on aspirations as well as providing a mechanism to support their realisation. The report concludes that a systematic, sustained and holistic approach is necessary for the challenge of raising young people’s aspirations. It also argues that learning should be re-packaged for those young people not in education, employment or training who are disenchanted with current systems. The report suggests some key elements of effective practice, including:
- A joined-up, strategic approach to working with young people.
- Attempting to raise aspirations at a much earlier age, particularly at the point of transition from primary to secondary education.
- Provision for young people which is peronalised, responsive, customised, flexible and learner directed.
- Supporting parents/carers in developing high aspiration for their children.
- Resources to ensure all those working with young people have the necessary time and training.
- Sharing, disseminating, rewarding and funding effective practice.
Full details here
Northern Ireland Skills Monitoring Survey
The Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland has published the findings of its Skills Monitoring Survey 2008. The survey was conducted by IFF Research Ltd and consisted of 4000 interviews with employers across all industrial sectors (excluding agriculture) between October and December 2008. They were asked questions about labour turnover, staff recruitment and retention difficulties, skills gaps, graduate recruitment and workforce development and training activities.
The survey found that 12 per cent of the employers had a vacancy at the time of the survey, of which 35 per cent said that some of these vacancies were difficult to fill. Such difficulties were often associated with a lack of applicants with the required skills, experience or qualifications and they often led to problems with meeting customer service objectives. Furthermore, 17 per cent of employers said that during the previous 12 months they had vacancies that were difficult to fill for skills related reasons. Lack of communication skills and customer handling skills were often mentioned and these skills were also lacking among the 14 per cent of employers in the survey who had experienced a gap between the skills of current employees and the skills needed to meet business objectives. Problem solving and team working were the other skills that were commonly reported as being deficient. The most common reason for skills gaps was lack of experience.
Seven per cent of the employers surveyed said they had specific jobs in which they struggled to retain staff and issues such as lack of interesting work and lack of career progression were cited as causes of difficulties retaining staff in particular jobs. Increasing pay or training provision was the way that around a third of these employers said they responded to this problem.
Of all the employers surveyed, 74 per cent indicated that they had funded or arranged some form of training for their employees during the previous year. The research report estimates that on average around £2000 is spent for every employee in the workforce.
Full details here
Policy Analysis
The UK Government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has launched its new national strategy for economic growth and individual prosperity. Skills for Growth describes how the Government’s skills policies are based on the twin objectives of creating better access to skills training and a greater focus on the skills required in the modern economy. The strategy’s proposals are based in six key areas:
- Promoting skills for economic prosperity. This incorporates the aim of building a ‘modern class of technicians’ and broadening the existing goal of 50 per cent of young people attending university to include advanced vocational education.
- Expanding the advanced apprenticeship system by doubling places for young adults and creating stronger pathways into higher education.
- Ensuring that the system responds to demand from businesses and that key sectors for growth and employment are well supported. This means the creation of a Skills Funding Agency in April 2010 that will switch funding to markets identified as drivers of growth and jobs. Training priorities in the skills system will also have stronger links with the work of the Migration Advisory Committee as a result of UK Commission-led analysis of future sectors and jobs.
- Empowering adults to equip themselves for future jobs. Involving the introduction of skills accounts for every learner, the development of a new public rating system for colleges and courses and ensuring that more colleges offer people the chance to “Qualify with a Business”.
- Raising recognition among businesses of the value of investing in workforce skills by helping them develop policies for making effective use of existing skills; promoting skills and apprenticeship opportunities; and ensuring the successful implementation of the proposed right to request time to train. The UK Government also aims to support employers seeking to establish new occupational licensing arrangements in their sector.
- Improving provision through a simpler skills system. The strategy proposes simpler funding and monitoring arrangements for colleges and training institutions in exchange for more publicly available data about their performance.
Full details here
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has published its higher education blueprint, Higher Ambitions: the Future of Skills in the Knowledge Economy. This sets out the UK Government’s dual aims of delivering wider participation and higher standards in the higher education (HE) sector. This is placed in the context of rising international competition and tighter constraints on public funding. It states the Government’s intention to guide HE towards being more responsive to the needs of Britain’s economy and having a greater focus on areas of established excellence. The document contains proposals in six key areas:
- Access to Higher Education. The Government suggests that more variety in the forms of study on offer is needed to attract a greater diversity of students. There are also plans to improve the advice that students receive early in their education, to encourage universities to use contextual data (as well as attainment information) in admissions procedures and to consider further ways of widening access to those from under-privileged backgrounds.
- A bigger contribution to economic recovery and future growth. Universities will be expected to describe how they are enhancing their students’ employability and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) is to devise new funding incentives to provide HE courses that deliver higher level skills. Businesses will also be encouraged to become more active partners with the HE sector.
- Translating a stronger research capacity into economic impact. There is to be a greater concentration of research activity in key areas, new incentives to increase the economic and social impact of research and support for stronger long term relationships between business and universities.
- Promoting excellent teaching for all students in HE. This involves requirements for universities to provide students with information on what they can expect in terms of the nature and quality of their programme. In addition, the role of the external examiner system is to be strengthened.
- The role of universities in communities and the wider world. The Government will communicate the UK higher education brand and support developments in transnational e-learning. The Government also aims to build on the contribution universities have made to regional economic development.
- Maintaining excellence under tighter public financial constraints. There will be a review of the fees structure in English universities and the need for a diverse set of funding streams is also to be considered.
Full details here
Review of STEM in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland’s Department for Employment and Learning and Department of Education have published a report that contains findings of a review of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). It states the need for Northern Ireland’s economy to have a workforce with scientific qualifications in order to sustain growth, but also observes that young people are increasingly disengaged from STEM related subjects. The review covered STEM learning in schools, further education and higher education and aimed to identify constraints and losses at each stage. 20 recommendations are proposed in the report with the goal of achieving a dynamic and innovative economy. These are grouped under the imperatives of business leadership; alleviating key constraints; increased flexibility in STEM education; and better coordinated Government support for STEM. These include:
- Creating a business-led STEM framework.
- Developing a clear STEM careers path.
- Addressing gender bias.
- Making STEM learning more enquiry-based.
- Facilitating easier transfer from further education to higher education (and the reverse).
- Allocating resources to careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) for STEM.
- Developing a proactive approach to managing STEM supply and demand.
Full details here
The Welsh Assembly Government has announced a new suite of skills qualifications to be introduced in September 2010. Essential Skills Wales (ESW) will consist of a single ladder of progression from qualification levels 1 to 4 in Communication; Application of Number and Information Communication Technology. It will replace the current dual system of Key Skills and Basic Skills and it is hoped that the changes will bring clarity and consistency to the policy aim of ensuring that everyone can gain skills needed for education, work and life in general. There are also plans to include the current Wider Key Skills of Improving Own Learning and Performance, Working with Others and Problem Solving in the ESW suite by September 2012.
Full details here
| Digest Of Latest Data and Statistical Releases |
ONS – National and Regional Monthly Labour Market Statistics
The regional monthly Labour Market Statistics data tables are published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in the form of ‘zip’ files which then open up as separate regional Excel spreadsheets.
Within those spreadsheets are data on employment; unemployment; economic activity and inactivity; and vacancy data. The regional data now includes information by local authorities, parliamentary constituencies and travel to work areas.
Latest official statistics show that the number of unemployed people, the unemployment rate and the claimant count have all increased. The unemployment rate was 7.9%, unchanged on the quarter. The number of unemployed people, however, increased by 21,000 over the quarter. Meanwhile the number of notified vacancies is up 1000 on the previous quarter and stands at 432,000. Growth in average earnings, excluding bonuses, was unchanged and growth in average earnings, including bonuses, was up 0.1 percentage points.
All the data, including that at national level and from previous months, is all available via a single link, which can be found here
| Spotlight Feature |
The Intelligence briefing contains a topical “spotlight” feature, where we focus on a key issue relating to the work of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and its partner organisations. This month we look at Securing the Recovery: Growth and Opportunity, the 2009 Pre-Budget Report.
The Pre-Budget Report presents updated assessments and forecasts of the economy and public finances and reports on how, in the face of the downturn, the Government is delivering support to the economy, business and households to secure recovery and provide a platform for growth and opportunity. The Pre-Budget Report confirms that the UK Government will stick to planned levels of overall departmental spending in 2010-2011 and that public expenditure will continue to grow by an average of 0.8% a year from 2011-2012 until 2014-2015.
Securing the Recovery: Growth and Opportunity suggests that Government intervention has been successful in averting the more severe downside risks to the economy, and has limited the severity of the downturn and its impact on businesses and individuals. In particular, evidence suggests that employment has held up relative to the 1990s recession and a smaller proportion of firms have gone into liquidation, reflecting action that the Government has taken to promote labour market flexibility and to support jobs and businesses with cash-flow problems during the downturn.
This provides the context for the Pre-Budget Report, which makes several announcements associated with the employment and skills policy agenda. The Government’s short-term priority is to support the most vulnerable in society through a range of measures. These include an investment of £300m to bring forward the Young Person’s Guarantee, pledging a job, work placement or work-related skills training for all people aged between 18 and 24 who have been claiming Jobseekers Allowance for 6 months. At the same time the Pre-Budget Report announces new efficiencies and reforms across the public sector. Savings of £300m are anticipated by:
Reducing funding not directly supporting learner participation and lower priority adult skills budgets, increasing co-funding of training and further efficiencies in the delivery of learning to focus spending on those who most need it and on the skills most vital to Britain’s future (HM Treasury, 2009, p. 110).
The development of a child poverty strategy is a requirement of the Child Poverty Bill and employment and skills is set to be a key element of the strategy. Other announcements in the Pre-Budget Report seeking to encourage social mobility through the world of work include the promotion of access to the professions in response to the recommendations in the Final Report of the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions. The Pre-Budget Report also announces a contribution of £8m towards providing bursary-style support for undergraduates undertaking short unpaid internships in professions with historically poor access.
In a chapter on ‘supporting business and growth’, the Pre-Budget Report refers to a number of recently published policy documents and strategies on employment and skills. This includes the Skills for Growth White Paper which was published in November 2009 and builds on the Leitch Review of Skills published in 2006. This sets out a more strategic approach to ensure that the skills system can anticipate and respond to the needs of the industries and sectors of the future through, for example expansion of apprenticeships, prioritisation of Train to Gain funding at levels 2 and 3 and the piloting of a Joint-Investment Scheme at levels 3 and 4. The UK Commission for Employment and Skills has a key role to play both in working with Regional Development Agencies and Sector Skills Councils to prioritise funding within Train to Gain and in making recommendations to simplify the skills landscape. The Pre-Budget Report states that later in December 2009 the Government will publish a Policy through Procurement Action Plan which will demonstrate how the government will use procurement to deliver the policy priorities associated with apprenticeships, skills and youth employment, small businesses and low-carbon resource efficiency to stimulate economic growth.
The chapter on supporting business and growth also describes the challenges and opportunities facing the higher education (HE) sector. It looks back to November 2009 and to the publication of the HE strategy paper Higher Ambitions. It also looks forward to the independent review of HE, which is due to report in 2010 and which will examine the balance of contributions to higher education funding by taxpayers, students, graduates and employers.
The Pre-Budget Report highlights the need to foster innovation and enterprise by maintaining open and competitive markets and equipping people with the skills they need for the jobs of the future. The Report highlights the need to work with Europe to ensure that a new Compact for Jobs and Growth seeks (amongst other things) to pursue this agenda at a meeting of the European Council in December.
Policy developments at the sub national level to put in place more devolved arrangements in order to better drive growth are also outlined in the Pre-Budget Report. It announces the agreement of two new pilot city regions (Leeds and Manchester). For Manchester this includes designation as the UK’s fourth low-carbon economic area specialising in the built environment, new powers over adult skills and a stronger role on 16-19 learning, apprenticeships and transport. For Leeds this includes greater control over housing and regeneration funding, a timetable for new powers on adult skills and work with government to deliver low carbon housing developments and to integrate transport funding.
There is further information on how the Pre-Budget Report affects each UK region on a dedicated microsite and the full report, including annexes on the economy and public finances can be found here.
References
H.M. Treasury (2009) Securing the Recovery: Growth and Opportunity. Pre-Budget Report December 2009. Cm. 7747. The Stationery Office, Norwich. Available: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/pbr09_completereport.pdf.
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (2009) Higher Ambitions: the Future of Universities in a Knowledge Economy. Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, London. Available: http://www.bis.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/publications/Higher-Ambitions.pdf.
--- (2009) Skills for Growth: the National Skills Strategy. Cm. 7641. The Stationery Office, Norwich. Available: http://www.bis.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/publications/Skills-Strategy.pdf.
Panel on Fair Access to the Professions (2009) Unleashing Aspiration: The Final Report of the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions. Cabinet Office, London. Available: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/227102/fair-access.pdf.
'Intelligence’, the employment and skills research and policy e-bulletin, is produced in association with the Policy Research Institute at Leeds Metropolitan University.
