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This report aims to inform VET professionals who seek information on how the 'demand for skilled labour' is defined, and whether the results of the analysis and forecast of demand for labour can be utilised for improving relevance of VET delivery to the identified market demand.

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In this paper, we provide a comprehensive picture of social selectivity in higher education in Italy by focusing on enrolment and two alternative indicators of success: retention and timely completion. The existing literature has shown that young individuals of disadvantaged backgrounds have lower enrolment probabilities and higher chances of withdrawal. This paper analyses the size and features of this cumulative disadvantage, shaping the chances of high-school leavers of eventually attaining the university degree. We analyse whether social background inequalities are stronger at enrolment or at later outcomes, and how these inequalities vary with previous schooling experience. We confirm previous evidence that disadvantaged groups with respect to enrolment are also disadvantaged on persistence, add new findings on timely completion and show that cumulative inequalities are very strong. Inequalities are strongest among students holding technical and vocational high-school qualifications and weakest among well-performing students from lyceums. In addition, we examine the role of labour market conditions and whether they explain geographical differences. Enrolment, retention and timely completion probabilities appear negatively related to local youth unemployment rates, suggesting that with poor labour market prospects, individuals lose motivation and reduce their engagement in education.

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New technologies and alternative work arrangements are transforming the American labor market. Can the country leverage the ingenuity that created the dynamic 21st-century workplace to improve pathways to upward mobility? We identify six ideas that can improve the future for all workers: (1) Extend basic protections to all workers - Workers in alternative arrangements need access to the same basic protections that full-time wage workers have, including eligibility for minimum wage and overtime protections, the right to collectively bargain, discrimination protection, unemployment and workers compensation, disability insurance, and access to retirement plans; (2) Pilot and scale models for portable benefits - With the rise in contract work and people working for multiple employers, basic benefits that travel with workers will be a foundation for economic security; (3) Support a strong role for workers in shaping the future - Invest in organizations that advocate on behalf of workers, create alliances for underserved workers across sectors, and strengthen platforms that allow workers to have a voice in improving working conditions; (4) Test wage subsidies for the most vulnerable - Pilot a subsidized jobs program that offers longer-term wage subsidies, job guarantees, and skill development for those with serious barriers to obtaining and maintaining work. We also suggest examining whether a permanent subsidy program for lower-wage jobs could help disadvantaged workers; (5) Expand the earned income tax credit - Expand the value of the credit for all adults, especially adults not living with children; include younger workers; and raise the maximum age at which people can receive the credit from 65 to 67 in line with the scheduled change in the retirement age for full Social Security benefits; and (6) Support a comprehensive strategy for improving jobs in the care sector - Jobs in some rapidly growing sectors, like care work, have low wages, less generous or no benefits, fewer legal protections, and limited ways for workers to change their working environments. These sectors need to improve in the near term and develop a deeper strategy for rewarding and supporting the skills and experience of workers over their careers.

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Technological innovation is transforming economic exchange. Just a decade ago, the online platform economy comprised a handful of marketplaces connecting independent sellers to buyers of physical goods. Today, many consumers use software platforms to procure almost any kind of good or service from independent suppliers as a routine part of daily life. This research investigates the question of whether these innovations have created viable new options for making a living? This study extended the JPMorgan Chase Institute online platform economy dataset in order to track supply-side participation and earnings. It distinguishes four sectors of the online platform economy: (1) the transportation sector, in which drivers transport people or goods; (2) the non-transport work sector, in which workers offer a growing variety of services including dog walking, home repair, telemedicine, and many others; (3) the selling sector, in which independent sellers of goods find buyers through online marketplaces; and (4) the leasing sector, in which lessors find lessees to rent homes, parking spaces, and many other types of assets.

Key findings are that: the online platform economy has continued to grow; between 2013 and 2018, transportation platforms have grown to dominate in terms of both the number of participants and total transaction volume; most participants are active in just a few months out of the year; the growth in the supply of drivers has come alongside a 53 per cent decline in average transportation earnings; platform earnings represent a major source of income for families in the months they participate but only 20 per cent of income among those who participated at any point in the prior year; and participation rates varied significantly across the US. More broadly, the study did not find evidence that the online platform economy is replacing traditional sources of income for most families. Taken together, the findings indicate that regardless of whether or not platform work could in principle represent the 'future of work', most participants are not putting it to the type of use that would usher in that future.

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Despite the growth in older workers over the last 20 years, there is still a stark gap between employment rates of people in their 50s and early 60s and those in their 40s. Currently, less than half of the population are in employment the year before they are eligible for their state pension. This age employment gap is likely to grow in line with the scheduled rises in state pension age unless action is taken now. The key driver of supporting people to work for longer is to improve the quality of work. Improving employment practices for older workers will make the workplace better for everyone. This policy option paper explores how supporting older workers to remain in better, more fulfilling work for longer can be part of the solution to addressing the fiscal pressures of an ageing population.

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This guide aims to provide general guidance to project managers and project teams on the design and implementation of integrated, cross-sectoral youth employment programs. Traditionally, youth employment programs have focused primarily on supply-side interventions - that is, those dealing with individual constraints to accessing or moving between jobs. Many of these programs have had limited labor market impacts. On the other hand, most interventions on the demand side, which focus on providing support to firms, do not specifically target job creation - and fewer still specifically target youth. Governments and development institutions too often implement activities and programs that target either the supply side or the demand side of the labor market without coordination or an explicit intent to create linkages that will maximize the impact of their interventions and improve job opportunities for youth.

The aim of the integrated programs described in this guide is to bring together supply- and demand-side interventions to simultaneously address three interrelated objectives: Promote job creation for the target population; Improve the quality of jobs young people already have, many of which are in the informal sector; Help prepare young job seekers for jobs or to move from low- to higher-quality jobs.

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The Dutch labour market has recovered and the unemployment rate has been converging towards pre-crisis levels. Non-standard forms of work have expanded with a strong trend towards self-employment and an increased reliance on temporary contracts. These developments may reflect a preference of some individuals for a more flexible working relationship, but they could also lower job security and job quality for others. Policies need to protect vulnerable groups in the more dynamic working environment without creating barriers to labour mobility and flexibility of the overall labour market. To improve the fairness of the tax system, policies should ensure a more level playing field between workers on different types of contracts. Regulatory policies should aim at raising labour market mobility to improve the matching of skills to jobs by easing the protection on permanent employment contracts and through a more targeted approach to activation policies for disadvantaged groups. Finally, measures should improve the skills of individuals in vulnerable groups to enhance their opportunities to find better jobs.

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The Australian economy has experienced a high degree of structural and technological change over the past three decades. Significant changes will continue, with the decline of the manufacturing sector, the increasing use of mechanisation and technology in the mining and agricultural sectors, and with the growing role of computerisation and robotics in the workplace in general. The effects of such changes to date have included better pay and more employment opportunities for those whose skills are in demand, but it has also meant lower relative pay and fewer job opportunities for low-skilled and unskilled workers and for workers whose jobs have been replaced by technological development. Structural change leaves workers in industries that are in long-term relative decline with fewer employment opportunities which can lead to entrenched long-term unemployment. Technological change impacts on the types of jobs available within industries and the skills required. The purpose of this paper is to examine the regional dimension to labour market change and determine which areas are likely to be most at risk as the economy continues to experience changes in sectoral mix and in the types of jobs and the skills required.

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One area of concern regarding the pay of Britain's workers has been the idea that the UK is experiencing a 'hollowing' out of the pay distribution as offshoring and automation diminish the number of mid-paid jobs. This briefing paper presents new research that shows that some hollowing out has occurred, but only in relation to men. Furthermore this hollowing out, rather than being driven by occupational change, is primarily the result of significant changes in the hours worked by men. The result is that this hollowing out is clearly seen in the weekly, but not the hourly, earnings distribution; between 1997 and 2016 the share of male employees earning at or around the typical male weekly wage fell by approximately 15 per cent. A change in working hours is driving this change, but there are two factors at play. The first is the large increase in the number of male employees working part-time, which has risen from 8.1 per cent in 1997 to 11.7 per cent in 2017. The second driver of the 'hollowing out' of male pay over the last two decades is the reduction in average hours worked by the lower-paid (in terms of hourly pay) - over and above the shifting balance between full-time and part-time working. The average number of hours worked by full-time men earning around two-thirds of male median hourly earnings fell from 44.3 hours in 1997 to 42.2 hours in 2016. At the same time hours worked increased for higher paid men. As a result of this change lower-paid men no longer work more hours than their higher-paid counterparts.

While this isn't all bad news (partly reflecting a more even distribution of part-time work between men and women and the reduction in excessive working hours) there is evidence that the shift has coincided with an unwelcome increase in 'involuntary' part-time work. Among part-time employees in the bottom fifth of the male weekly earnings distribution, 27 per cent would like full-time work compared to 8 per cent of those in the top fifth. Under-employment (people wanting more hours) is also concentrated amongst lower earners. Given that it is weekly pay that directly feeds into people’s living standards, and increasingly the UK labour market is marked by atypical forms of employment often characterised by non-standard working hours, the authors suggest that more focus on the hours people are working would be welcome.

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It is well known that there has been a secular decline in the manufacturing share of total employment in Canada, with the decline accelerating after 2000. Among the factors that contributed to that trend, this report focuses on rising Chinese import competition in Canada, which also accelerated after 2000. We find that the trade-induced job loss in manufacturing amounts to 113.5 thousand during the 2001-2011 period but the loss was not equally distributed across skill groups. We estimate that the loss was largely driven by: low-skilled occupations (89.8 thousand) when analyzed by skill level; and occupations in services (57.6 thousand), technical/paraprofessional (12.1 thousand), and production (51.8 thousand) when analyzed by skill type. We also find that the labour reallocation in response to a trade shock is important in offsetting the negative employment effect, but the degree of adjustment is found to vary across skill groups.

Published abstract.

A related report is available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 133.274. Show less