Labor market. Labor supply. Labor demand. Including unemployment, manpower policy, occupational training, employment agencies
Research Topic
Language: English
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- What are the longer-term impacts and consequences on the labour market and on productivity of policies introduced to address the challenges of COVID-19?
- What is the expected growth of the UK's maritime autonomy and remote operations sector and what impact will this technical change have on the workforce?
- What are the barriers faced by founders outside of London and the South East in accessing finance, talent and support?
- Evidence on the skills shortage, including quantitative assessments of the skills gap in terms of numbers of workers for different professions and levels of qualification.
- What solutions, and scale of solutions, should be implemented to increase diversity (i.e. depending on demographic groups/ intersectionality considerations)? What works for different groups? Which are expected to gain maximum impact? What needs to be improved in the working environment and working culture?
- We need to understand the type and volume of new entrants required to meet the needs of growing sectors, and where these people might come from.
- Skills: How do we make sure the right skills are available to maintain a world-leading position in AI? And how do we ensure the labour force has the right skills to support individual opportunities?
- Market power: How will labour demand and supply elasticities change?
- Inequalities: What is the likelihood of impacts on different demographic groups and how that will affect equality of opportunity? Will this exacerbate/mitigate existing inequalities in the workforce?
- Sectors: Which sectors are more likely to benefit from AI and which are more at risk from the downsides?
- Wages: What would be the impact of AI deployment at work on wages and costs for employees and employers?
- Indicators: What are the rapid indicators of AI impact on the labour market?
- Analyse and evaluate the pathways into digital and technology jobs, identifying the barriers to recruitment, retention and progression, and how this differs in underrepresented groups. How do we define and understand these roles? How can talent be retained within the UK’s universities and the wider educational sector?
- What new and better arrangements could be made to deliver effective health and employment support? What is the evidence base for effective joint working arrangements involving support delivered through, and beyond, the benefit system in partnerships involving DWP, the NHS, local authorities, the voluntary sector and other organisations?
- How can DWP support carers in their caring roles? Including any return to work or progression in the labour market?
- What are the most effective ways to engage employers, health professionals, employees and other relevant stakeholders to retain and support disabled people and people with health conditions in employment? What policies and processes do employers have in place that could influence employee health, well-being and productivity (such as sick pay, access to occupational health services, health insurance provision)?
- To what extent could increased progression help to move individuals out of poverty? How should in-work progression support be targeted?
- How might employers optimise job design and hybrid and flexible working arrangements to manage risks, accommodate employee care needs and build soft skills and team working to maintain attachment to the labour market?
- What are the different ways to define and measure labour market progression and sustainable work? How does this vary by life stage and group? What are the implications for targeted policy measures in terms of health, employment and wellbeing outcomes?
- What is most effective in preventing people from falling out of the labour market? Does this differ for different groups? Who is best placed to deliver support?
- What are the most effective ways for government to work with employers and other partners to support people into sustained work? How are employers reshaping workplace organisation to support the health and wellbeing of their employees? How can further evidence-based practice be encouraged? How can effective evidence-based tools influence best practice?
- What is most effective in ensuring employment support operates in a joined-up way with other forms of support?
- In what ways do housing circumstances affect the way people move into, and remain in, work? What role is played in labour market outcomes by temporary accommodation, housing affordability, poor quality housing, insecure accommodation and the private and social rented sectors?
- How can DWP best support places, regions and sectors in levelling up? What approaches work best in addressing employment skills development, employment skills shortages and employment skills mismatches across the UK?
- What additional labour market barriers do those from disadvantaged groups (such as ex-offenders, homeless people), face? How can DWP best support those with multiple, complex needs to gain and retain employment?
- What sort of interventions are required to address barriers to employment, to reduce inactivity and support in-work progression?
- How do employment support programmes contribute to DWP objectives to maximise employment and support economic growth? How can DWP best assess value for money in different labour market programmes?
- • What incentives to both employer and potential apprentice will facilitate more individuals entering the workforce via apprenticeships?
- How has Covid-19 impacted the financial resilience of UK aviation companies as well as the wider aviation supply chain, and what impact will this have on the Government’s strategic objectives? Have these impacts modified the market structure or associated labour markets?
- What difference does professional development of our workforces (including for specialist and support workforces and early years practitioners) make to children’s outcomes?
- What initiatives are in place to prevent or address BHD and how effective are these in tackling BHD in the sector.
- How do wages of creative Higher Education graduates progress over time and what factors determine short and long-term wages? For example what factors can explain why arts and design graduates have some of the lowest earnings one and five years after graduation?
- Conditions and wages of low-skilled migrant workers compared with native employees.
- How do we best create collaborations with industry to increase training opportunities, to ensure learners are as prepared as possible for work, and to reduce barriers to those from disadvantaged backgrounds, particularly in areas of high need and priority (e.g. Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths - STEM)?
- • What are the drivers, barriers, costs, and benefits of movements across our workforces?
- What knowledge, skills and techniques are required for good school estate management? Are they available in the employment market and how can they be developed?
- To what extent is housing tenure (e.g. social rented, private rented, home ownership etc) driven by choice? What drives people’s choices? For example, is private renting seen as a ‘stepping-stone’ to home ownership? And how does this vary across different geographical areas?
- What are the career pathways and recruitment journeys into the judiciary? How do protected characteristics and social mobility affect recruitment?
- What is the effect on wages, employment and survival on UK exporters versus non exporters?
- How have different sectors (aerospace, financial services, telecoms), sizes of business, regions and the self-employed been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, and how might they be impacted differently by the recovery phase?
- What role should government play in encouraging upskilling or reskilling for those in the labour market to make skills supply more responsive to local economic needs? What barriers do working individuals face when retraining?
- What are the impacts of skills issues on creative businesses?
- How does career progressions differ for those with different protected characteristics and across socio-demographic backgrounds?
- What works in improving the skills, employability and wellbeing of young people?
- What is the size and nature of the gig economy? What different models of employment are there and how will this change in different sectors in the future?
- Assess the effectiveness of interventions that can promote a resilient and adaptable workforce and the degree to which these need to protect or promote freelancers and under-represented groups in the workforce.
- Analyse and explain what works in terms of workforce development mechanisms, interventions and governance models on improved workforce participation of lower socioeconomic and protected groups.
- What is affecting future access to training and employment in AHT sectors for lower socioeconomic and protected groups and sector skills gaps?
- How can skills gaps and the impacts of workforce skill gaps be measured?
- • How effective are changes to the (children's) residential care market in ensuring the right number and types of good quality, stable registered places across the country, which provide good value for public money?
- Which interventions for disabled people are most effective in supporting movements into work? What barriers prevent disabled people and/or people with health conditions from moving into, and progressing in, work?
- • What are the features of the design and delivery of cost-effective professional development, at scale? Why are these features effective?
- • What are the characteristics and motivations of returners to the education and social care workforces?
- What sources and methodological approaches can be developed to allow for more consistent and granular data on freelancers?
- Managing careers - Where the need for people/human capital endures, how do we build fulfilling Defence careers, particularly in scarce skill disciplines where traditional military hierarchies, structures and approaches do not attract people with the skills we need for the future? How do we encourage a broader range of people to work in challenging roles and environments?
- Is there opportunity to transfer knowledge and skills from experienced operators of hydrocarbon sites to a new generation of plant operators assuming responsibility in the energy transition?
- Occupations: What are the characteristics of occupations that put them more at risk of replacement/change or give them a comparative advantage? Over what time frame will they be impacted?
- How are skills and productivity linked, and how is this changing over time?
- How can Work Coaches most effectively use available support to promote movement into work and progression in work? How can DWP most effectively learn from, and promote, best practice across the Work Coach network?
- How do economic cycles affect employment, unemployment, economic activity and wages? How do any effects vary for different groups?
- Analyse and explain the effectiveness of interventions for increasing recruitment and retention across AHT sectors.
- What are the likely effects of measures to increase quality in HE on applicant perceptions and graduate labour market outcomes?
- What are the most effective non-pay related solutions for addressing FE workforce shortages? What are the potential impacts of improved pay and financial incentives compared to non-pay solutions in tackling barriers?
- What are the barriers to early years staff (including childminders) recruitment and retention and how can they be addressed?
- What will be the future level and mix of demand for different DWP services through different channels, (digital/online and video, phone, face-to-face)? Does effectiveness vary for different groups? How effective are digital/virtual services (for example labour market support, drug and alcohol interventions, parenting interventions) compared to face-to-face provision, in helping people move into work?
- What are the future trends for demographics and working/saving behaviour? How do these vary across demographic groups, including ethnicity and other characteristics? What further reforms to state and private pension provision might DWP require to ensure long-term sustainable financial security for older people and pensioners?
- How do employers view pension obligations within overall costs and benefits packages or legal obligations? What evidence is there of employer cost mitigation through, for example, wage suppression?
- Which disabled people are supported by the benefit system and which are not? How do policy choices impact this?
- How do the characteristics, needs and experiences of older workers vary in relation to work and health? What factors affect whether older workers continue in employment? What approaches work best to maximise employment options for older workers?
- What are the causes/drivers of the ethnic minority employment gap? What are the barriers to entry and progression in the labour market for ethnic minorities?
- What are the barriers and challenges within the labour market that prevent adults from disadvantaged backgrounds having good outcomes, even if they have the same attainment outcomes (e.g. networks, local labour market factors, social capital etc)? How does this vary for different groups (e.g. adult offenders)? What are the most cost-effective ways to address them?
- To what extent will existing and planned educational provision meet identified future skills gaps in key areas of national importance?
- • How can we create a culture of lifelong learning? What would an optimally designed lifelong learning entitlement look like to enable adults to drop in and out of ongoing training without compromising their financial stability? What incentives might change the national culture (for employers and employees) about lifelong learning?
- What are the most cost-effective ways to recruit and retain our workforces? How does this vary across the education and children’s social care workforces (including relevant local authority staff such as educational psychologists), and at all stages of their careers (including recruitment into initial teacher training courses and late career recruitment)?
- • What underpins and drives workforce performance across our sectors, including teaching quality, quality of leadership and quality of delivery by specialist staff?
- What factors influence labour market choices and how do they vary for different groups, parts of the workforce, including at a sub-national level? This includes the role of non-pay factors such as workload, wellbeing and flexible working and their relative importance .
- • What influence do practices such as professional supervision/reflective practice have on staff retention and how widespread are these practices?
- • How can we promote resilience and wellbeing among our workforce cost-effectively?
- What professional development is most appropriate at different career stages? How does it vary between different parts of the workforce and for different groups?
- • What development opportunities are available for our workforces, how well do they meet our needs, and how attractive and accessible are they? Given the importance of professional development to retention, what are the best ways to ensure there are sufficient attractive and accessible development opportunities which engage the right people?
- • Are there barriers affecting the availability of specialists (including for example, subject specialist teachers)? How might they be addressed?
- • What are the potential long-term opportunities and challenges of AI (artificial intelligence) use across our sectors, and at all education stages?
- How can the impact of digital technology be robustly measured, and implemented in a way that supports teachers and learners? • How can we adapt research methodologies to robustly measure the impact of technology in education, given its fast-moving nature?