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There is an increasing emphasis in the UK on localisation and the delivery of services through local and multi-agency partnerships. This report investigates the issues around undertaking policy analysis at the local level. The study is based on a case study approach providing insights into experience and practice of local partnerships and bodies in three areas: Greater Manchester, Lewisham and Cornwall. The research provides local case study insights into: the extent to which analysis is undertaken at the local level to assess local worklessness interventions; whether and how local policy analysis is used to inform current and future interventions; the range of ‘good practice’ in local worklessness analysis; barriers to conducting analysis; the nature, scope and efficacy of existing arrangements to share local analysis; and local partners’ appetite for a ‘framework’ for the analysis of local worklessness interventions and for dissemination of findings.

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The research reported here was commissioned with the aim of developing further understanding of whether and why demand for migrant labour persists in low skilled sectors of the UK economy, despite historically high levels of domestic unemployment. An additional aim was to provide further evidence on the factors that affect the supply of labour to low skilled sectors. The findings from the literature review are presented in part A of this report. A thematic approach is adopted for the discussion of the case study evidence in part B. The themes encompass worker attributes and employers’ preferences for migrants, the evolution of human resources models, recruitment and job search methods, job search constraints, agency work, benefits, pay, labour market regulation and skills and training. Part C concludes by assessing how and where the case study evidence corroborates the findings from the literature review, and how and where it refutes them. It also highlights issues for future research.

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The purpose of this study is to develop further understanding of the supply and demand side factors that affect the composition of the low-skilled labour market, with particular reference to the social care and retail sectors. Following an initial literature review, the study adopted a case study approach, focusing on low-skilled roles in the social care and retail sectors in the West Midlands. It involved interviews with employers, recruitment agencies, migrant workers (non UK nationals who had come to the UK for work after 2003), UK-born workers in low-skilled roles, UK-born job seekers on out-of-work benefits with no/low qualifications and stakeholders. The findings presented in this report draw on these case studies. The findings address the following questions: What are the key features of work organisation, conditions and pay in low-skilled roles in the social care and retail sectors? Do employers have a preference to employ migrant workers? What are the advantages and disadvantages of employing migrant workers? (How) are young people disadvantaged in the labour market? What methods are used by employers to recruit low-skilled labour? What job search methods do migrants and UK resident workers in low-skilled jobs typically use? What attributes are employers seeking in candidates for jobs? How do their selection practices and procedures operate and do they disadvantage certain job seekers? What are the constraints faced by migrant workers and UK-born unemployed people in securing employment in low-skilled roles in the social care and retail sectors? What factors disadvantage UK-born job seekers in the labour market? What does the availability of training look like? How has it changed? And does availability of training and opportunities for progression account for differences in willingness to work in low-skilled jobs? A comparison of the composition of the workforce in the social care and retail sectors is also presented.

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In 2005, the Higher Education Careers Service Unit (HECSU) launched a major program of research, designed to explore the process of entry into and through higher education in more detail than had hitherto been attempted. At the core of this program is a major longitudinal study, named Futuretrack, of all applicants to full-time UK higher education [HE] courses who applied through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) in 2006. Futuretrack is independent, interdisciplinary policy-related research on the relationship between higher education, career decision-making and labour market trends. It is being conducted by a research team at the Institute for Employment Research, University of Warwick. This report presents analysis of the first stage: a census of 2006 applicants who applied through UCAS for full-time places in HE. These data lay the foundation for the longitudinal investigation that is scheduled to end, with a fourth survey, in Winter 2011-12; five years after most respondents embarked on their courses.

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