IER News

Join us for a Question Time-style in-person event on 5 November to explore the future of work. Our experts from the Faculty of Social Sciences, including the IER, will answer your questions on all things work: What will be the impact of AI and digitalisation on the future of work? Will that future be one of good and healthy jobs for everyone? And will the future of work deliver greater productivity? The event is part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2025.

Please register here for the-in person event at the University of Warwick.

In early September, the UK and Saudi Government held a joint Great Futures Leadership Summit in London. It was the largest gathering of UK and Saudi Ministers and included the signing of a number of commercial deals between the UK and Saudi Arabia.

One of these deals was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding that involves IER providing research, evaluation, training and advice to the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development to support the Saudi Government’s Vision 2030.

Hilda Ragnarsdottir, IER final year PhD student, has been awarded a part-time IAS Early Career Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Warwick starting in October as she will be submitting her thesis at the end of September.

The latest UK labour market data confirms the transformation anticipated in previous quarters, with modest headline improvements obscuring significant structural changes. Unemployment rose to 4.7%, the highest since early 2021, whilst employment rates edged up to 75.2%.

Graduation provides a welcome opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the successes of our students. This past academic year, two IER PhD students successfully completed their PhD studies, Dr Andreana Glendinning and Dr Danya Nusseir. We also had the opportunity to belatedly celebrate the graduation of Dr Xiaotong Zhang.

The International Labour Organization's Future of Work initiative and the United Nation's Sustainability Goals call for inclusiveness by providing more reliable and adequate social protection. This book chapter, authored by Sonja Bekker , IER’s Trine Pernille Larsen and Janine Leschke, focuses on unemployment insurance benefits (UIB), drawing on examples primarily from European Union countries, arguing that the future of work is closely tied to proactive and inclusive support or the unemployed, geared to supporting labour market transitions.

Following the completion of her PhD at the IER, Danya Nusseir will develop a policy and practice document and a digital skills training toolkit for refugee women to aid their employment integration as part of her ESRC IAA Postdoctoral Impact Fellowship, mentored by IER’s Gaby Atfield. Many congratulations to Danya on the award. For more information on her PhD and the award please visit the University of Warwick website.

IER’s Professor Chris Warhurst presented new research at the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) annual conference in Montreal on 9 July 2025. Drawing on findings from projects funded by Deloitte and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), his paper explored the deceptively simple question: what would a healthy job look like?

In their new article “Spatiality of Service Delivery in the Covid19 Pandemic: Transcending Spatial Boundaries or Accommodating Logistical Challenges?”, Dr Katharina Sarter and Elizabeth Cookingham Bailey argue that the relationship between a service and requirements relating to physical space is vital for understanding service delivery.

Professor Terence Hogarth and Gianni Anelli participated in the 2025 International Forum on Skills Intelligence (IFSI), an online event hosted by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) on 3–4 July. The conference brought together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to discuss recent developments in skills intelligence, labour market monitoring, and data-driven approaches to inform education and training systems.

Four colleagues from Warwick’s Institute for Employment Research (IER) attended the Bridges 5.0 “Advancing Industry 5.0” conference at the Irish College, Leuven, on 16–17 June 2025. The two-day event brought together researchers, policy makers and practitioners to explore the skills, voice and innovation challenges raised by Industry 5.0.

This week IER's Professor Chris Warhurst was invited to the annual Society of Occupational Medicine conference in Brighton to speak on a panel about improving work and health data. Along with the other panel members, Chris outlined the legal, ethical and practical challenges in linking existing health and work data. However, the prize is having this linked data opportunity to generate better understanding of the relationship between health and work, and then identify what causes ill-health at work and develop interventions to create healthier jobs.

IER, along with Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), is developing a methodology that keeps track of whether training provision is addressing the skills requirements of the green transition.

Historically, technology has been a driver for more jobs, rather than less, and research from the University of Warwick suggests this may continue to be the case as agriculture and horticulture continues to evolve. However, it is clear that regardless of the net impact on the number of jobs in farming and growing moving forward, the skills that the workforce uses will need to change.

The online workshop will explore how vocational education and training (VET) and skills practices are shaped by national and regional ecosystems across Europe. It will take place on the 18^th of June, with IER’s Terence Hogarth presenting at the workshop.

The latest UK labour market presents a mixed but increasingly concerning picture as structural pressures intensify. The unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in February-April 2025, up from 4.4% quarterly and marking the highest level since Q1 2021. The employment rate improved modestly to 75.1%, with economic inactivity declining to 21.3%.

In IER’s latest contribution to the Skills England Research Seminar Series, in June, Prof. Rob Wilson presented ‘Working Futures: Five Decades of Trying to Anticipate Changing Skills Needs.’ In 2025 the IER will have been engaged in skills forecasting for 50 years.

The presentation reflected on the rationale for producing detailed, quantitative, labour market projections and why they are still needed. It drew on five decades of research, focusing on the UK, but also covering work at international level, including Europe and the USA.

IER researchers presented their papers at the Creating Sustainable Work ConferenceLink opens in a new window 2025, held in Stockholm, Sweden from 7-9 May 2025, including findings from a project focusing on the occupational health and safety of gig workers (GIG OSHLink opens in a new window). The conference brought together experts and stakeholders to explore sustainable work practices and their implications for worker wellbeing and policy development.

IER's Dr Emily EricksonLink opens in a new window and Professor Terence HogarthLink opens in a new window presented research from the Skills2CapabilitiesLink opens in a new window project at the International Network for Innovative Apprenticeship (INAP) conference, held in Hertfordshire on 8-9 May 2025. The conference brought together international experts to explore innovative approaches to apprenticeship systems and policies.

IER’s Professor Philip Taylor, along with Professor Lynda Gratton from London Business School and Professor Wendy Loretto from Edinburgh Business School, gave oral evidence this week to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee inquiry 'Preparing for an Ageing Society'.

Public procurement is increasingly used as a tool to promote social policy goals. Yet, while academic research takes a growing interest in the strategic use of public procurement as a policy tool, practical guidance remains rather scarce. In a (German language) contribution to the eminent Handbook for Equal Opportunity Officers in Germany, IER's Dr E.K. Sarter provides insights into possibilities and approaches of strategically leveraging public spending for goods, works, and services as a tool for promoting gender equality.

IER's Gianni Anelli participated in the ‘Expanding real-time skills intelligence to accelerate Europe's skills revolution’ seminar, organised by Cedefop in Brussels, Belgium. The event, held on 2 April 2024, brought together experts and stakeholders to explore the development of real-time skills intelligence in Europe.

Today IER's Terence Hogarth and Emily Erickson will present evidence from two ongoing EU funded research projects on the causes and implications of skills mismatches.

IER's Dr Jamelia Harris has been awarded the 2024 Development in Practice Reviewer Prize for her outstanding contribution to academic peer review.

It is with deep sadness that we learned of the passing of Professor Claire Callender OBE. She held joint professorships at UCL and Birkbeck. She was a distinguished scholar, valued colleague and Honorary Professor of the Institute for Employment Research. Claire was a first-rate researcher whose impact on higher education policy and funding was profound, not only in the UK but internationally.

Evidence based research on co-designing an all-age careers framework in County Durham, commissioned by Country Durham and led by dmh associates, with contributions from the IER, has just been published.

Public procurement is an important market and a key area of public spending. As such, it has increasingly come into focus as a tool for promoting social policy objectives. In this vein, ‘social value’ is an increasingly important concept in public purchasing.

IER has been awarded £1.5 million by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to lead a major study on job quality and health. Led by IER’s Director Professor Chris Warhurst, the project will explore how job design affects workers' mental and physical well-being. Poor job quality has been linked to long-term sickness absence and economic inactivity. For more information see the University of Warwick press release.

A new study commissioned by the Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA) provides insights into the experiences of UK Armed Forces veterans from ethnic minority backgrounds. Led by IER’s Gaby Atfield, the study uncovers significant disparities in employment, housing, and social integration, highlighting key areas where tailored support is needed.

Cedefop have released the latest update to their Skills Forecast data providing labour market projections at a pan-European level from 2022 to 2035. The project was led by Cambridge Econometrics with a consortium of European research organisations, including the IER, and individual country experts from across Europe.

Chris Warhurst, Jamelia Harris and Jeisson Cardenas Rubio of IER along with Strathclyde University colleague Pauline Anderson have published an article in a special issue of the European Journal of Workplace Innovation. Using data from Scotland, their article ‘A Just Transition? Green jobs, good jobs and labour market inclusivity in Scotland’ presents mixed findings.

A series of foresights posters is now available for seven (sub) sectors: energy, waste management, circular economy, manufacturing, construction, health care and agriculture. The posters present forecast data to 2035 and provide insights into driving forces behind sectoral changes and emerging skill needs.

In February IER Director, Chris Warhurst, was an invited speaker at in the Global Labour Markets Conference in Riyadh. It is a new, annual event involving the World Bank, ILO and United Nations, global trade union organisations and C-suite business leaders. Chris participated in two sessions, the first a presidential style ‘gloves off’ debate about skills and AI and the second presenting IER’s work on green jobs and a just transition.

Achieving a Just Transition to Net Zero is one of the defining challenges of modern times. At IER, we're excited to be part of the newly announced Just-Systems project, funded by UKRI and led by the University of Aberdeen.

Researchers from IER participated in the 6th Fairness at Work Conference at the University of Manchester's Work and Equalities Institute, presenting two papers co-authored with colleagues from IER and the GIG OSH project.

Professor Trine Larsen and Dr Emily Erickson represented IER at the launch of Work-Net International. Work-Net International aims to connect research centres and institutes across the globe, providing a platform for collaboration and mutual support. IER looks forward to collaborating with colleagues forming part of the network to develop research, network, and support impact activities.

As part of a drafting group formed of international experts, IER's Dr E. Katharina Sarter contributed to the development of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Guidelines on green and sustainable procurement of Public-Private Partnerships for the Sustainable Development Goals, which were recently endorsed. The new Guidelines outline key concepts and considerations for green and sustainable procurement, showcasing promising approaches and examples of good practice.

Low employment quality and precarious employment have been associated with adverse mental health outcomes, yet the extent to which this association may be explained by the experience of unemployment “scarring” has not yet been explored. Drawing on UK data the article, assessed the links between individuals’ employment quality, unemployment history, and mental well-being and psychological distress. The results help further understanding of employment quality as a social determinant of health and highlight the need for both life course and gender-sensitive research in this area.

A new paper co-authored by IER’s Trine P. Larsen, Anna Ilsøe (University of Copenhagen), Chris Mathieu (University of Lund) and Bertil Rolandsson (University of Gothenburg) explores social partner responses to increased usage of AI-based technologies in Denmark and Sweden.

IER, together with Copenhagen Business School and FAOS, University of Copenhagen, organised the 42nd conference of the International Working Party on Labour Market Segmentation (IWPLMS), which took place at Copenhagen Business School on 5-6 September. The conference was well attended and both international academic scholars and practitioners took part in the conference.

IER’s Trine P. Larsen and Anna Ilsøe (FAOS, University of Copenhagen, Denmark), have edited a special issue for the European Journal of Industrial Relations. It consists of contributions from a range of leading European scholars and looks at the role of social dialogue and collective bargaining to creating, maintaining or reducing the risks associated with employment contracts of few hours, such as marginal part-time work, temporary agency work and zero-hour contracts.

Building on extensive work on sustainable public procurement over the past years, IER's Dr Eva Katharina Sarter presented a paper entitled "Hidden Debates: Public Procurement as a Venue for Negotiation", which examined the political dimension of debates on the strategic use of public procurement to foster (social) policy goals.

This event, which will mark the official launch of the book “Re-Thinking Europe’s Skill Needs: Reflections Following the European Year of Skills”, will bring together experts and professionals to explore how we can tackle the skill needs in today’s ever-changing world.

Our recent renewal of the Athena Swan Bronze Award shows that IER has progressed on all gender equality indicators since its last award. This progress is just one of the positive results from the renewal. Progress is especially seen in the area of staff work-life balance, which was a key issue in the previous application. Nearly all staff now respond favourably to their work-life balance situation now compared with only one in three in 2018.

Pivoting away from economists’ traditional concerns with pay, an international group of economic historians now want to explore the wider aspects of job quality. In August the group organised a conference in Oslo at the Norwegian Academy of Science & Letters focused on ‘Job Quality from the Past to the Future’. IER's Director Chris Warhurst was invited to give the keynote talk, titled ‘Improving Job Quality: Practical, Policy and Research Challenges’.

Digital labour platforms, including their management practices and extensive reliance on the self-employed, have attracted much attention, though usually from a worker rather than an employer perspective. This book chapter contributes to the platform literature by exploring how platforms utilise algorithmic and traditional management practices, and for which purposes. It features in the new Research Handbook on Self-Employment and Public Policy 

This book chapter examines self-employment among people aged 50 and over in the liberal market economies of Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the USA against the backdrop of the economic shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and in the context of long-standing efforts aimed at increasing levels of older workers’ labour force participation. It features in the new Research Handbook on Self-Employment and Public Policy 

Warwick Institute for Employment Research is a research partner on a new project led by the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) that has secured a grant of £1.2 million aimed at tackling dementia in the workplace. Other research partners are Lancaster University, Northumbria University, Edinburgh Napier University, and Wilfrid Laurier University.

Do you work in research or innovation? The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is conducting the 2024 Research and Innovation Workforce Survey. Take the survey and have your voice heard.

Co-authored by IER’s Dr Sangwoo Lee, the article longitudinally investigates the socioeconomic differentials in South Korean adolescents’ occupational aspiration development while they approach the post-secondary transition. The paper takes into account the two-fold relation between socioeconomic status and academic performance in shaping occupational aspirations: mediation and interaction.