Recovery and resilience: reskilling our way back into work

Over the last few months, economies and societies worldwide have changed in ways that none of us could have foreseen. Here in the UK, the outlook for 2020 swiftly moved from one of relative economic prosperity and growth to sitting on the precipice of the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1920s. Prior to [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19, Brexit, revised immigration laws and the rapid adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace were already causing significant disruption across the world of work. As a result of the crisis, digital transformation is taking place at an exceptional rate. A record number of people moved to home working arrangements, aspects of personal and professional lives have changed beyond recognition and the requirements for both digital skills and digital delivery of training have skyrocketed. New research presented in this report, reveals that people urgently need financial support, job specific training and digital skills if they are to remain employed – or find routes into employment – as we emerge from the crisis.

It is critical that we have an [further education] FE system in place that can support (re)training for all of these displaced people, both young and old, and support them into meaningful work. Yet we don't currently have a skills system to enable this. In this report, we show how rapid interventions are needed to bring the country back from the cliff edge of increasing unemployment and an inadequately skilled workforce to a position of sustainable economic and social prosperity.

Excerpt from publication. Show less