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We argue that previous analyses of skills and inequality have been limited due to their binary focus on skilled versus unskilled labour. Using country-level data on earnings and qualification levels to show that income increases when there is a smaller proportion skilled to a particular level, we suggest that income inequality can be reduced by improving the match between the supply and demand of skills. Particular challenges of China and India in this context involve scale, rapid growth and the size of the informal sector. Useful future research areas include developing a better measure of demand and determining mechanisms for matching supply with demand.

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The public, politicians and policymakers are talking about productivity - the only way a country can improve living standards and workers' their take home pay. This report examines the contribution skills policy has made in recent decades to address the UK 'productivity gap'. Based on quantitative analysis and interviews with leading education experts, including former policy advisers, the authors outline why the UK has been 'running to stand still' when it comes to upgrading skills and qualification levels in the workforce. Despite strong ministerial leadership, including the well-intended efforts of civil servants and delivery bodies, none of the fundamental metrics appear to have shifted in a significantly positive direction since 2008. As the UK prepares for a general election before January 2025, the report provides critical insights into the main skills and policy challenges facing the next government.

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The City and Guilds Centre for Skills Development conducted this research in order to develop a better understanding of the ways in which organisations train: the types of companies which are more likely to engage in training, together with the kind of workers who are more likely to be given training. We were keen to use this understanding to identify which groups were more at risk of not being trained, and to develop recommendations to help combat any intrinsic bias in patterns of training. Our research is based on an analysis of the 2008 edition of the UK’s 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS). According to the WERS website, its evidence is collected for the following purposes: to provide a mapping of employment relations practices in workplaces across Great Britain, and to monitor changes in those practices over time; to inform policy development, and to stimulate and inform debate and practice; and to provide a comprehensive and statistically reliable dataset on British workplace employment relations that is made publicly available for research. The section of the dataset used in this paper contains over 2,000 company responses. All results cited are statistically significant. The paper brings in other research where appropriate to explain the analysis and recommendations.

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This report presents a summary of the literature on older workers. Older workers, defined for the purposes of this paper as those aged 50 and above, are less likely to have access to training and development opportunities than younger workers, and are also less likely to engage in learning if the opportunities are available to them (e.g. Armstrong-Stassen and Schlosser, 2007). The resulting cycle of underinvestment compounds negative perceptions surrounding older learners in the workplace. Older workers should not simply be defined by age, but be considered as a variable group. They may differ, for example, in terms of personal and professional abilities, as well as their achievements. Some suffer deteriorating health, death of a partner or, in contrast, enjoy excellent health and strong relationships (Foster, 2008). They also differ according to factors such as gender, ethnicity and sector in which they work. Research to date, however, rarely takes these differences into account.

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