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IER newsletter - October 2016


IER Newsletter - October 2016

In this month's issue...

Congratulations to Professor Peter Elias

Forthcoming events 
- Celebrating UN World Cities Day
- What is a graduate job?
- LMI for All event

News

Publications

Conference presentations

 

Congratulations to Professor Peter Elias

Peter Elias, CBE has just celebrated over 40 years at the University of Warwick, which was recognised at a special long service awards ceremony with guests and other members of the university. At IER, Peter has developed methods for the measurement and analysis of labour market dynamics and has a keen interest in the classification of labour market activities. His most recent work has been on occupational classification which has taken him to over 50 countries. Find out more about Peter's time at the university.
 

Forthcoming events

A way forward for sustainable cities research: An event to celebrate UN World Cities Day

On 31 October IER's Anne Green and Erika Kispeter will give a presentation entitled Economic Sustainability Formulating Inclusive Growth Agendas for Cities: A Focus on Labour Markets at a conference which celebrates the UN World Cities Day. The presentation draws on a recently completed study Anne and Erika have conducted with Paul Sissons (University of Coventry) and Francesca Froy (Whose City?) for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The conference is organised by the Sustainable Cities Global Research Priority of the University of Warwick and will offer the opportunity to advance university wide relationships and to learn more about research opportunities linked to cities and the UN HABITAT III New Urban Agenda. For more information visit the conference website.

Time: 9am - 1pm, 31st October 2016
Place: Room R1.13 Ramphal Building, The University of Warwick

Expert seminar: What is a graduate job?

The increase in the proportion of graduates working outside traditional areas of graduate employment, changes in technology and the labour market, and the shift in the definitions of skill towards encompassing interpersonal abilities, have redefined the concept of ‘graduate’ jobs. This seminar provides a unique opportunity for expert discussion of the developments in graduate job classifications and their contributions to understanding the recent changes in the graduate labour market. The seminar is being organised by Daria Luchinskaya, who joined IER in September. More information on the seminar and registration details.

Date: 9 November 2016
Venue: Institute of Advanced Study, University of Warwick

LMI for All symposium, 1 December 2016, London

LMI for All is an online data portal, which makes available high quality, reliable labour market information (LMI) for the purpose of supporting and informing careers decisions. This data is freely available via an Application Programming Interface (API) for use in websites and applications. The development of this free resource has been underway since 2012, led by IER working with Pontydysgu, under the overall management of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. A further contract for funding its development has been secured to 2017, with overall management passing to the Department for Education.

As this resource is becoming embedded in careers guidance and education practice, innovative and creative approaches to making data accessible and available to target groups of users are emerging. The aim of the symposium is to highlight how LMI for All is being used. There will be presentations from the Department for Education, current adopters of LMI for All and the LMI for All team.

If you are interested in attending, please contact Lynne Marston, l.marston@warwick.ac.uk.

 

News

Heike Behle's SRHE appointment

IER's Heike Behle has been appointed as convenor of the Employability, Enterprise and Work-based Learning Network of the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE).

Knowledge, interchange & collaboration: Anne Green visits South Africa

In late September, IER's Anne Green travelled to South Africa at the invitation of the Human Sciences Research Council under the auspices of a National Research Foundation Knowledge, Interchange & Collaboration Grant. The purpose of her visit was to exchange knowledge on tackling unemployment issues in the UK, in order to feed into learning on poverty and inequality issues in South Africa. Anne gave a presentation at the Society of South African Geographers Centenary Conference in Stellenbosch and then travelled to Pretoria where she gave a Workshop and a Seminar on unemployment issues and labour market geographies.

Adult Education Strategy: England

IER's Deirdre Hughes delivered a presentation to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Education on 26th October in Westminster Hall, London. Deirdre was invited to review and discuss the current policy and funding context, including recent key developments. The recent research report by Deridre Hughes, Karen Adriaanse and Sally-Anne Barnes highlights the danger that national policy for adult education could disappear by 2020. The report's co-author, Karen Adriaanse, will attend a Town Hall meeting in Cambridge on 5th November 2016 to discuss and share recent policy and research developments.

Work experience week 2016

IER's Deirdre Hughes delivered a keynote presentation at the official launch of Work Experience Week on 10 October at the Guildhall, London. Work Experience Week is dedicated to raising awareness of the benefits of high quality work experience. It covers all experiences of work, from apprenticeships to traineeships, internships to volunteering as well as more traditional work experience programmes. This year’s launch event showcased experiences of the world of work for young people to help employers develop a talent pipeline for their businesses and expand development opportunities for their existing workforce.

 

Publications

New directions in employment policy report

A new report by Emyr Williams (Public Policy Institute for Wales) and Anne Green has been published as part of their ESRC-funded research on tackling poverty. The report reflects on the significant differences between sectors in terms of the kinds of employment opportunities which they provide. Low pay is therefore not attributable solely to an individual’s skill levels and qualifications but is also related to which sector they work in. Current policies focus on supporting people to access employment. However, some growth sectors are characterised by low pay and may not offer a route out of in work poverty. More could be done to help those who are in work to achieve career progression.

Williams E. and Green A. (2016) New Directions in Employment Policy. Cardiff: PPIW.

Report on the early pathways of graduates

A recent IER report, Graduates in non-graduate occupations by Heike Behle, compares the early pathways of graduates from two cohorts leaving higher education: those who graduated in 1999 (class of 1999) and those who graduated from three-year courses in 2009 and from four-year courses in 2010 (class of 2009/2010). It shows that the proportion of employed graduates working in non-graduate jobs during their first year after graduation has remained high with approximately 36%t of all employed graduates from three year courses and, respectively 30% of all employed graduates from four year courses working in non-graduate jobs fifteen months after graduation.

 

Conference presentations

Changing needs of the labour market

IER's Anne Green gave a presentation entitled How are the needs of the labour market likely to change in future? at an event in London on 26 October organised by the Education Policy Institute and Pearson. She presented some of the results from Working Futures and implications for skills of developments such as digital transformation and the rise of the gig economy.

Talent Match Conference 2016

IER's Gaby Atfield and Anne Green attended the Talent Match Conference in Sheffield on 19 October. Talent Match is a £108 million investment to tackle youth unemployment in 21 areas of England and IER is involved in the National Evaluation Activities with CRESR at Sheffield Hallam University. At the conference Gaby ensured that a session on Talent Match Startup - with stalls demonstrating enterprising / innovative activities undertaken by young people - ran smoothly. Anne presented emerging findings from thematic studies on 'Key Workers' and 'In-Work Support' undertaken with Sally-Anne Barnes and researchers from CRESR.

Policy for in-work progression

On 13 October IER's Anne Green and Paul Sissons from Coventry University spoke at the Employability and Skills Wales Convention in Cardiff on Linking growth sectors and sustainable labour market outcomes: designing policy for progression. Their presentation included data analysis from an ESRC-funded project with colleague Neil Lee (LSE) on Harnessing Growth Sectors for Poverty Reduction and findings from an international literature review focusing on initiatives to foster progression in selected sectors, with a particular emphasis on promising approaches from the US. The review Supporting progression in growth sectors: A review of the international evidence has been published by the Public Policy Institute for Wales.

 
For information on any of IER's publications, research or other activities, please get in touch.
 
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