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This report contains a comprehensive analysis of the returns to a range of qualifications and to basic literacy and numeracy skills in the UK. New information is provided on the returns to specific vocational qualifications which have not previously been addressed in the literature. The impact of each qualification held by an individual on their earnings is measured rather than only including the individual’s highest qualification. In addition, the analysis of the economic impact of basic literacy and numeracy skills is the first study of its kind in the UK. The first chapter provides a brief summary of the main results. Chapter two contains a literature review on the returns to academic and vocational qualifications and chapter three reviews the evidence on the returns to basic skills. Chapter four details the data sets used in the study. These are the National Child Development Study (NCDS), the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), and the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Chapter five discusses methodological issues and chapters six and seven provide the results on returns to academic and vocational qualifications and to basic skills. Chapter eight provides brief conclusions and reinforces the fact that wage and employment returns, both to qualifications and to literacy and numeracy skills, are substantial. Overall, the results indicate higher returns to academic qualifications than to vocational qualifications. However, once account is taken of the time needed to acquire such qualifications, the returns to vocational qualifications appear far more promising.

A discussion paper by the authors on this area of research is indexed at TD/TNC 69.166. Show less

The National Skills Task Force was set up to ensure that Britain has the skills needed to ensure high levels of employment, be competitive in the global marketplace and provide opportunities for all. In this publication, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment acknowledges the work done by the members of the Task Force and reiterates his views on the importance of creating a learning society with a high degree of knowledge and skills. He stresses the value of knowledge capital and gives details of how the National Skills Agenda will operate. Case studies are presented, strategic plans discussed and new ways of creating excellence in vocational learning are outlined. He also reveals strategies for working with employers to boost skills and productivity, including details of a challenge fund to encourage small firms to work together and share resources. Finally, he asserts that 'learning and skills are the bedrock of social justice and economic prosperity' and that the Skills Agenda is there to ensure that it works for all.

Reports of the National Skills Task Force are indexed from TD/TNC 62.653 to TD/TNC 62.657. Show less

The National Skills Task Force has been established by the Secretary of State for Education and Employment to assist him in developing a National Skills Agenda. The Task Force was asked to provide advice on the nature, extent and pattern of skill needs and shortages, including associated recruitment difficulties, how these are likely to change and what can be done to ease such problems. This paper is one of a series that has been commissioned to review and evaluate existing literature in a number of skills-related areas.

This paper examines the provision of post-compulsory education and training (PCET) particularly as it relates to vocational qualifications for young people. The author maintains that working through the many options and routes is a daunting task and that the provision is 'fragmented and incoherent, with a number of competing pathways of varying status and value' (Evans et al, 1997). She identifies five key questions which need to be addressed by policy-makers. Do vocational qualifications act as a barrier to young people's participation in vocational education and training? How credible are vocational qualifications and vocational courses in the eyes of young people and employers? How might vocational qualifications and vocational courses be improved and strengthened? How are vocational qualifications and vocational courses viewed by education and training providers? How do vocational qualifications and vocational courses relate to their academic counterparts and how might that relationship be improved? Unwin looks at all the options that 16 year-olds face at the end of compulsory schooling and highlights a plethora of apprenticeships, traineeships and other initiatives. Destination patterns are analysed and the strengths and weaknesses of National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs) are examined. She presents a range of conclusions to support the young people themselves, the providers of training and the employers, and makes ten policy recommendations to simplify and coordinate the PCET process.

Other research reports in this series are indexed from TD/TNC 62.633 to TD/TNC 62.636 and from TD/TNC 62.638 to TD/TNC 62.651. Show less

Skills Dialogues constitute a series of consultations with all major industrial and business sectors in the UK, generating high quality authoritative skills assessments for each of these broad sectors. Their purpose is to improve the quality of information available on skills at sector level and to provide an effective means for national training organisations (NTOs) and employers to contribute to the planning and implementation of education and training provision in their sector. This report is the result of the Transport Sector Skills Dialogue and provides an assessment of trends in employment and skill needs and associated issues in the transport sector. The transport sector is defined as covering aviation, passenger land transport, Merchant Navy, motor vehicle sales and repair, rail, road haulage, and distribution and ports. The introductory chapter explains how the transport sector is defined for the purposes of the Skills Dialogue, its importance to the UK economy, and key influences on the sector. Chapter two explores issues associated with labour market demand in terms of the numbers of employees required and skill requirements. Chapter three investigates issues linked to the supply of labour to the transport sector, including trends in the working population in general from where the sector will be recruiting. Chapter four draws together issues from previous chapters to identify areas of difficulty in the supply of skills to the sector. The report also includes an industry summary for each part of the transport sector highlighting industry facts, trends and issues. The four key messages to emerge from the report are: (1) the transport industry is huge and will require a large labour pool; (2) much of the industry skill needs will stay at the same level despite changes so vocational training needs equal treatment with higher education to continue to provide the labour required; (3) the entry criteria for Modern Apprenticeships needs changing to eliminate discrimination in those parts of the sector where initial recruitment is at age 25 or older; and (4) the needs of the transport industry are reasonably uniform across the UK so the government needs to take a national approach when addressing industry issues. Show less

The National Skills Task Force was set up to ensure that Britain has the skills needed to ensure high levels of employment, be competitive in the global marketplace and provide opportunities for all. This research paper contains the evidence base for the Task Force's final report 'Skills for all: proposals for a National Skills Agenda'. It comprises 8 chapters and extensive supporting tables and graphs. In his Foreword, the Chairman, Chris Humphries, maintains that the body of evidence will form a base for planners and policy-makers of education and training, as well as for those advising individuals and employers on training and development. Chapter 1 - Introduction, sets out the purpose of the report; Chapter 2 - What we mean by skill and why skills are important, defines and identifies the main skill types and summarises their benefits to all; Chapter 3 - Changes in the nature of jobs and skill requirements, outlines changes and trends in demands; Chapter 4 - Qualifications of the workforce and job-related skills, looks at the relationship between skills and qualifications and the growth and pattern of training; Chapter 5 - The balance between skills supply and demand: skill-related recruitment difficulties, examines the extent and nature of recruitment difficulties and skill shortages experienced by employers; Chapter 6 - Internal skills gaps and future skill requirements, examines employer perceptions of current and future skill deficiencies; Chapter 7 - Market signals - what earnings and the nature of unemployment tell us about where skills are needed, analyses the rate of return to skills and considers the wage differentials between various skills; and Chapter 8 - Skill priorities, describes the six main skill priority areas which, evidence suggests, are the highest priority for further investment.

Other reports of the National Skills Task Force are indexed from TD/TNC 62.653 to TD/TNC 62.656 and an initial response to the final report is indexed at TD/TNC 62.658. Show less

The National Skills Task Force has been established by the Secretary of State for Education and Employment to assist him in developing a National Skills Agenda. The Task Force was asked to provide advice on the nature, extent and pattern of skill needs and shortages, including associated recruitment difficulties, how these are likely to change and what can be done to ease such problems. This paper is one of a series that has been commissioned to review and evaluate existing literature in a number of skills-related areas.

This paper examines how economists forecast skill needs, how the economy responds to a lack of skills and the economic consequences of not anticipating skills needs. Following an introduction and summary, the authors first of all examine skills shortages and why we need to anticipate skill needs. They identify the results of skill shortages such as lower quality, lower productivity and higher wages and note the impact of the measures taken by firms to adjust to these shortages. They then discuss the difficulties implicit in leaving it to market mechanisms to address the problems. Finally, they analyse how economists attempt to forecast skills. They discuss occupational forecasting and whether it can be a useful indicator for predicting skill change, question the links between occupations and skills and present some case study examples of skill changes, particularly multi-skilling, in large organisations.

Other research reports in this series are indexed from TD/TNC 62.634 to TD/TNC 62.651. Show less

The right to Time off for Study or Training (TfST) which came into effect in 1999, gives employees aged 16 or 17 an entitlement to reasonable time off from work to achieve a qualification at National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) Level Two or equivalent. This report, in its first stage, is a qualitative assessment of the initial impact of this new legislation. It is based on interviews with representatives of Regional Government Offices, careers services, Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs), National Training Organisations (NTOs), business representative organisations, employers and young people. The report provides information on the target group of young people, approach to the legislation, promotion of the right to TfST, barriers to TfST and possible future trends in take-up of financial assistance which at present has been low. Show less

Young people who do badly in their GCSE examinations at age 16 present two challenges for social policy. The first is to minimise the numbers getting poor results while maintaining credible academic standards in examinations. The second is to mitigate the consequences of poor results by providing opportunities for low achievers to improve their qualifications. It is the second of the challenges that this report addresses. It aims to inform the policy debate on how best to provide for these young people through a detailed study of a cohort of low achievers who reached the end of their compulsory schooling in 1995. This report is not about the causes of low achievement. It is about the recent trends in low achievement, and about how the routes low achievers took after age sixteen differed from those taken by young people with better examination results. The report tracks the low achievers' progress after age sixteen over two and a half years, looking at their educational participation, work-based training, employment, any further qualifications that are gained and their satisfaction with the way that things worked out for them. Show less

The National Skills Task Force has been established by the Secretary of State for Education and Employment to assist him in developing a National Skills Agenda. The Task Force was asked to provide advice on the nature, extent and pattern of skill needs and shortages, including associated recruitment difficulties, how these are likely to change and what can be done to ease such problems. This paper is one of a series that has been commissioned to review and evaluate existing literature in a number of skills-related areas.as been commissioned to review and evaluate existing literature in a number of skills-related areas.

This paper examines the extent, nature and implications of spatial variations in skill levels across England. Following the introduction, Section 2 examines the reasons why skills are important to localities. In addition to the obvious potential for stimulating employment, earnings and living standards, the authors identify other important reasons such as globalisation, which is increasing competitive pressure both nationally and internationally, technological change which is transforming work organisation, and the consequent importance of ensuring that skill deficiencies and gaps are addressed. Section 3 looks at the extent and nature of spatial skill variations in the workforce as a whole and with young people at school. In Section 4 the authors look at the variations locally within 3 levels - at age 11, age 16 and in the workforce as a whole. Section 5 concentrates on the effects that spatial skill variations have on local economic performance - employment, competitiveness, earning and deprivation. Finally, Section 6 presents the implications for policy and future research and summarises the conclusions. The authors maintain that spatial skill variations are substantial at all levels of qualification both for young people and the workforce as a whole and that they are systematic, in that low skill localities are generally low skill at age 11, age 16 and in the workforce as a whole.

Other research reports in this series are indexed from TD/TNC 62.633 to TD/TNC 62.645 and from TD/TNC 62.647 to TD/TNC 62.651. Show less

Skills Dialogues constitute a series of consultations with all major industrial and business sectors in the UK, generating high quality authoritative skills assessments for each of these broad sectors. Their purpose is to improve the quality of information available on skills at sector level and to provide an effective means for national training organisations (NTOs) and employers to contribute to the planning and implementation of education and training provision in their sector. This report is the result of the Construction, Professional Services, and Extractive Mineral Processing Sector Skills Dialogue and provides an assessment of trends in employment and skill needs and associated issues in this sector. The sector is broad and includes all industries that contribute to the development of buildings and infrastructure. These include extraction and processing of raw materials, construction including installation of gas, electrical and plumbing appliances, and services such as architecture, civil engineering and project management. Chapter one looks at the key features of the industries, chapter two investigates changing skill demands, chapter three explores skill supply, and chapter four examines skill mismatches. It was difficult to generalise trends due to the broad range of activities undertaken in these industries. However, in chapter five, some conclusions are drawn. The construction industry is experiencing high levels of skill shortages, professional services are experiencing skills shortages and the creation of a skilled 'technician' role, that can be performed by non-graduates, is being considered. There is a general consensus that change needs to take place in five areas: (1) recruitment; (2) reducing reliance on unqualified site workers; (3) reviewing the skills of workers at craft level; (4) adressing quality in frontline supervisory and perhaps technician posts; and (5) recruitment of managers and professionals into the industry. Show less