IER News & blogs

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%.