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UK government policy already explicitly recognises the potential role of migration to address labour market deficiencies, especially in key professions and some unskilled jobs. Migration is also increasingly being viewed as a solution for replacing workers who are retiring and not being replaced at the younger end of the workforce because of falling birth rates.

This report contains the findings of the research by the task group set up by the adult learning committee of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) which aimed to gain a better knowledge of the current position of learning and skills issues in relation to migrants. The ultimate objective was to determine the key issues relating to skills and migration, and to consider how this can inform LSC policy.

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This book discusses [the challenges of Brexit and the wider challenges and opportunities facing the UK's labour market] and how business and policy makers might rise to the challenges they pose. The first chapter explains why our labour market may have reached a tipping point, with an increase in the relative cost of low-wage labour and a fall in supply as migration levels reduce. Chapter 2 focuses on that second shift, noting that migration levels are falling long before we formally exit the EU. Chapter 3 discusses how businesses may react to these forces, mapping the varying scope for investment in skills and automation in different sectors. Chapter 4 turns to what the government can do to offset any fall in labour supply by supporting those furthest from the labour market. Chapter 5 outlines how we can tackle high levels of precarious jobs and get our labour market ready for the new world of work, while Chapter 6 focuses on how we can begin to address the UK's endemic challenge of progression out of low pay.

Excerpt from publication.

Chapters: End of an era?; the supply of low-wage labour is set to fall and its price is set to rise / Torsten Bell and Stephen Clarke; Filling in the gaps; preparing for the end of free movement / Stephen Clarke; A firm response: business responses to the labour market tipping point will vary by sector / Kathleen Henehan; All working together: how to draw more people into the UK labour market / Stephen Clarke; 'Atypical' day at the office: tackling the problems of 'atypical' work / Stephen Clarke; Moving on up: enabling earnings progression in the UK labour market / David Finch. Show less

Retaining qualified career and technical education teachers (CTE) is crucial to the continued supply and reduced demand of these types of teachers. Demographic data and emerging trends of CTE teachers were analyzed for those teachers who completed a summer workshop as part of alternative licensure. Some of the emerging trends included shifts in retention rates during certain school years, years in which enrollment was highest for each gender, and changes in employment status within education. Conclusions and discussions derived from the study were a need for teacher educators to become aware of a diverse classroom of alternative CTE teachers, CTE teachers completing continuing education and degree requirements, and legislative policies that impact retention rates.

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There are well documented workforce shortages in nursing. Many strategies have been suggested to resolve the issue, including increasing migration or training places, changing skill mix or nurses' roles, redesigning nursing work, and greater use of unregulated or unlicensed workers. One of the contributing and growing factors is the ageing of the workforce, but methods of retaining older employees have been given very little attention. This paper examines the impact of ageing on individuals, the ageing nursing workforce and the implications for government policy given its current status.

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Africa has huge potential for growth and development and its youthful population and abundant natural resources are key aspects that need to be fully exploited. Engineering is one area that requires specific attention as it provides highly skilled personnel for industrial development. Through essentially desk-top research, this paper surveys the challenges that Sub-Saharan Africa faces in promoting engineering, such as lack of engineering capacity, shortage of engineering technicians, poor quality and relevance of educational provision, lack of human and financial resources, and poor linkages with industry. The paper then identifies several regional initiatives to address some of these challenges.

Most of these are fairly recent and have yet to develop, and while several of them encourage harmonisation of approaches and collaboration among African institutions, hardly any place emphasis on university-industry linkages. Accreditation of engineering qualifications in Africa is key to improving the quality of the awards. Only a few African countries have established a really robust accreditation system for engineering qualifications. This paper suggests that these countries should take the lead in assisting the other countries, on a sub-regional basis, to improve their accreditation system, the ultimate goal being to establish a Pan-African engineering accreditation system.

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Energy and utilities are an essential part of our daily lives and business operations. From lighting, cooling and heating to the gadgets, computers and appliances we use in homes, offices, or factories, energy and utilities industries play a vital role.

The energy and utilities industries that Australian Industry Standards (AIS) supports - Electrotechnology; Electricity Supply Industry (ESI) Generation; ESI Transmission, Distribution and Rail; Gas; and Water make significant contributions to Australia's economic prosperity. Together, they employ over 465,000 people, generating an annual revenue of over $165 billion in 2021-22.

We have identified five megatrends which have and will continue to impact the energy and utility industries. Strategic planning and workforce development are among the keys to meeting the challenges and opportunities presented by these megatrends. The significance of training and skills development have never been more important. A future ready and agile workforce with transferable skills will enable greater workforce mobility and increased efficiency across multiple industries.

The five megatrends include: (1) Double disruptors - digital transformation together with the current pandemic has caused a double disruption to industry, leading business and economic activities to shift rapidly to the online world; (2) Renewables, sustainability, and low emissions technologies - The decarbonisation of the energy and utilities industries has begun in earnest in Australia. Under Australia's Long-Term Emissions Reduction Plan, numerous digital solutions are being developed to support the goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050; (3) Data analytics - The adoption of digitalisation and data analytics technologies in the energy and utilities industries is transforming day-to-day operations and creating numerous opportunities; (4) Labour shortages - an industry-wide labour shortage is adversely affecting Australia's economic recovery; (5) Digital transformation - the acceleration of digitalisation has impacted the skills needs of the workforce, requiring many to upskill or reskill to keep pace with the digital demand.

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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine small and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) level of participation in human resource development activities during a labor shortage. Drawing on human capital theory, it examines whether SMEs' profiles, determined according to their participation in different types of training activities, relate to perceived benefits of training, barriers to participation in training and learning culture. Design/methodology/approach: This study applies latent profile analysis (LPA) to 10 training practices of 427 SMEs in Quebec, Canada. Findings: The LPA distinguished four profiles of SMEs, reflecting differing capacities for mobilizing training resources during a labor shortage. These four profiles show differences with regard to perceived training benefits, barriers to participation in training and learning culture. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is among the first to focus on the specific ability of SMEs to invest in their human capital in the unique and recent context of a labor shortage.

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The transition economies of Eastern Europe, Central and East Asia face major challenges as they seek to compete within an increasingly globalised economy. For many of them, tourism is seen as providing one of the key areas of economic opportunity. This is certainly true of the three Asian countries considered in this paper, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Uzbekistan. Within any economy seeking to operate competitively in the international tourism marketplace, the appropriate human resources, especially the skills, to deliver products and services of appropriate quality, are essential.

This paper reports a labour market and skills study of the three Asian countries, based on two surveys of the accommodation and wider tourism sub-sectors. It identifies the key structural features of these tourism labour markets and addresses current and predicted skills shortages with respect to each of them. The paper draws conclusions with respect to the key issues facing tourism in the three countries, specifically in terms of their labour markets and skills requirements.

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Physicians have built their careers based on a network composed of a division of schools of medicine to which physicians belong (called Ikyoku in Japanese) and sitz hospitals which are closely tied to the Ikyoku in the supply of physicians. They enhance their treatment skills by gathering work experience in many hospitals and moving from one to another nearly every five years. The network benefits both the Ikyoku and the sitz hospitals. However, the network has come to play a smaller role for physicians' career building since the post-graduate clinical training system was introduced in 2004, because more than half of the graduates take courses provided by non-university hospitals rather than university hospitals. This new training system has nothing to do with the shortage of physicians or their misallocation among specialties or workplaces. Decline of physicians' wages and low rates of return of being a physician means no shortage of physicians. The misallocation is partly caused by preferences for female physicians in some specialties and clinics.

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In recent years there has been extensive media reporting on the issue of rural labour shortages, particularly for seasonal work in horticulture. The growers' difficulties in attracting labour have intensified calls for a new temporary work visa to allow overseas workers to enter Australia and take up seasonal employment. However until now, the evidence of a labour shortage in horticulture has remained largely anecdotal. This report aims to help fill that gap, by providing more detailed analysis of the rural labour market in the rich irrigated horticultural region stretching along the Murray River between Swan Hill and Mildura in northwest Victoria. The findings are based on the evaluation of responses to a survey of growers in the region. The main aims of the survey were to assess the growers seasonal labour needs (if any), to gauge the extent and duration of labour shortages within the region and to assess the growers' attitudes to the idea of a labour program to bring in seasonal workers from overseas.

In summary, the survey results indicate that there is an identifiable shortage of workers to meet peak seasonal demands for labour in horticulture in the region under study and that a large majority of growers are interested in employing overseas workers on a temporary basis. However growers are generally reluctant to shoulder the inevitable administrative and organisational costs of such an offshore scheme.

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