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The objective of the study tour to Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Austria, America and Australia was to look at ways of recruiting, retaining and succession planning to meet the every changing and demanding labour requirements of the horticulture and agriculture sector in the UK.

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Two stylised facts of the German labour market are that first, the demand for high-skilled labour has been growing rapidly for a number of years and second, the country is facing a particularly strong demographic change with the expected size of the population decreasing rapidly and the average age of the labour force increasing sharply. This has led to a widely discussed fear of 'labour shortages'. One of the reasons often stated in the public debate is that within a given time period many more old individuals are retiring than young individuals are entering the labour market. Although there is a certain logic in this argument, it is only prima facie convincing because firstly, a change in labour demand could counteract this effect and secondly, it is unclear whether - given labour demand for the occupations people retire from - people retiring from the labour market are normally 'replaced' by young cohorts entering the labour market.

Thirdly, even if the size of a cohort differs between generations, it is by no means clear what the effects on labour supply are as, for example, the participation rates may also differ. [The authors] address these issues from a theoretical and empirical perspective. In the theoretical part [the authors] focus on the relationship between vacancies and unemployment (labour-market tightness) and show that it does not always increase with demographic change. In the empirical part, [the authors] analyse how employment is affected over time by different shares of different age cohorts. [The authors] find no evidence that a higher number of retirees in an occupation leads to a higher demand for younger workers. Instead, to a large extent, retirees seem to be 'replaced', if they are replaced at all, by middle-aged cohorts who change occupations. Thus, [the authors] conclude that the interaction between large retiring cohorts and small entering cohorts within occupations is less direct than is suggested in the public debate.

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This research brief discusses results from a project that aimed to improve our understanding of the motivations and decision-making behind young peoples' decisions to engage or not to engage with seasonal work, as well as the perceptions of employers towards those job seekers' choices. As past debates have mainly been fuelled by speculations about young job seekers' motives, direct insights could help identify key determinants behind those choices, and prove critical in improving work prospects in regions and industries where young job seekers coexist with significant casual and seasonal labour shortages. The project was undertaken in three regions (Darwin, Cairns and Burnie), encompassed two industries (hospitality and harvest labour), and involved testing a survey instrument exploring respondents' descriptions of their own goals, decisions and reactions to pre-formulated scenarios.

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It is difficult to fathom the words 'skilled labour shortage' in a country of over 160 million, but the challenge of shortage of trained skilled construction labour is glaring in the industry. The purpose of the study was to examine professionals' preference for migrant craftsmen in Lagos State. A survey research design through the administration of questionnaires was used for the study. A convenience sampling method was used for the study in a vibrant sample area Lekki, Lagos where there are high volumes of building construction activities. From the 45 construction sites visited in Lekki, Lagos only 30 construction sites were responsive to the study representing a 67 per cent response rate. The data were compiled and calculations performed using SPSS 21.0.

The result showed that migrant craftsmen from four major countries in West Africa namely Benin, Ghana, Niger and Togo, are preferred by construction professionals for crafts work on building construction sites. The factor influencing the choice of migrant craftsmen is due to the shortage of skilled local craftsmen in the construction industry. The major factors mitigating against the use of local craftsmen are that they cut corners in carrying out their craft, they rush their work and they are not keen on improving their training. The preference for migrant craftsmen would result in an adequate supply of craftsmen in the industry and consequently unemployment for local craftsmen. It was recommended that local content act should be enacted and enforced for construction companies in the Nigerian construction industry to ensure an adequate quota for local professionals and craftsmen on construction sites. Nigerian institutions aimed at providing trade skill improvement programs for local craftsmen should be revamped in order to obtain skills to evolve and survive in the competitive construction industry.

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Focuses on current Australian labour market trends and issues. Published four times a year, it contains editorial commentary on the current state of the labour market along with refereed and non-referred articles dealing with issues, policies, and developments within the broad spectrum of labour practice and theory. Show less

This UK report is based on findings from two surveys, one of more than 1,000 employers and one of 500 employers, as well as in-depth interviews with senior managers in 12 organisations. It provides early insights into employers' views on the apprenticeship levy and the likely effect of the levy on apprenticeship numbers and quality, as well as on wider skills development within both levy-paying and non-levy paying organisations.

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In the wake of the vote to leave the European Union it seems likely that the UK will adopt a new immigration regime, moving away from the current free movement of people within the EU and possibly extending the current points-based-system that applies to those outside the European Union. Given the government's promise to bring net migration down it is fair to assume that the new regime will place greater restrictions on immigration. The numbers of migrants entering the country grew significantly over the last decade. As this coincided with stagnant and then falling earnings it is fair to assess how far migration contributed to this. This note finds that while it is wrong to say that migration had no effect in reducing earnings, specifically for those in low-paying occupations, the effects are small and reducing migration will not reverse the earnings squeeze.

However, reduced migration will throw up a number of significant new challenges for the labour market. In the short-term the government will need to ensure that the right to work of existing migrants is guaranteed to avoid serious harm being done to some sectors heavily reliant on such labour. In the medium-term its much heralded new industrial strategy will need to focus on helping these industries adjust to lower migrant availability, for example by investing in labour saving technology. Finally, with a likely rise in temporary workers and a greater risk of illegal migration the government will need to rethink the UK's current light touch approach to labour market enforcement.

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This research was commissioned by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), an independent, non-statutory, non-time limited, non-departmental public body that advises the UK government on migration issues. The research examines and seeks to explain the variation in the recruitment of non-European Economic Area (EEA) nurses at trust level in the National Health Service (NHS) in England, drawing on evidence from quantitative analysis of available data, as well as qualitative interviews with NHS trusts and health sector experts. The aims of this research are to: (1) investigate available data to identify any particular trust-level characteristics which might indicate likelihood to recruit from outside the EEA; (2) investigate the differential recruitment of non-EEA nurses among some NHS trusts, and the reasons for this; and (3) provide a broader overview of current nursing shortages and how they have come about.

The focus of the research was the NHS in England because data constraints make it difficult to extend quantitative analysis uniformly across the UK, and most of the Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) were issued in England. This report is structured as follows: chapter two provides a broad overview and policy context of nursing shortages in the UK and how they have come about; chapter three details the key quantitative results of the research; chapter four details the key qualitative evidence; and chapter five identifies policy responses to preventing future nursing shortages.

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As part of the 'Service contract for measures to enhance cooperation between Public Employment Services (PES)', in particular services to implement the bench-learning concept within the network of PES' project', the [European Union] EU Commission requested the consortium that was awarded this contract to carry out a small scale study on 'bottleneck' vacancies. The term 'bottleneck vacancies' refers to vacancies for occupations which are considered to be in short supply and consequently these are described as shortage occupations herein. The study seeks to identify these occupations both at the level of individual PES and European PES. The sources and indicators used to identify these shortage occupations, the methods used to measure them, and the frequency and ability to comment on shortage attributes (e.g. timeline and magnitude) are included in the study.

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With cooks and chefs being the occupations with the highest demand for skilled workers in the tourism and hospitality sector, go2HR identified a need for greater analysis of the current labour market that focused specifically on cooks and chefs. Traditionally, the data for these two national occupational classifications (NOCs) has been difficult to understand due to the wide range of job titles, positions, and sectors in the foodservice and hospitality industry. Wage rate, demand, and labour shortage data tends to group all cooks and chefs together, regardless of skill level or industry sector. In reality, the requirements for training, productivity, skill, and experience level vary immensely between quick service restaurants (QSRs), full service restaurants (FSRs), hotels, institutional catering outlets, and restaurants specializing in a variety of ethnic cuisines. A robust labour market study of the landscape of cooking occupations, including current wages, productivity, labour as a proportion of operational costs, gratuities and other non-wage benefits, cross referenced with skills and training required was conducted by go2HR through a Sector Labour Market Partnerships (LMP) Program project with the support of the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training. The goal of the project was to provide clarity in the information available to industry, government, students, and consumers and identify possible crisis points as well as point to solutions to address the labour challenges.

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