Last year, 2023, was The European Year of Skills. Its purpose was to address skills shortages and promote reskilling and upskilling. It is also intended that workers acquire the right skills to access quality jobs. Such aims are laudable and extend the strong and continuous emphasis on the importance of skills by the European Commission. However, policy on management is also needed.

It is almost seven years since the introduction of the apprenticeship reforms in Spring 2017. Since then, apprenticeship provision has changed dramatically for both apprentices and apprentice employers.

The publication of the latest apprenticeship data enables an analysis of a further complete 12 months of the apprenticeship programme, the lasting effects of the 2017 apprenticeship reforms (of which the levy has been the most impactful) as well as the more recent pandemic.

The quality of paid work has become an essential component of individuals’ well-being in modern-day capitalism, and there has been a surge in policy discourse surrounding the objective of ‘more and better jobs’ (as articulated by the OECD) or ‘decent work’ (as outlined in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals) over the past two decades.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing at pace. In its wake the world of work is being transformed. With the emergence of an AI application such as Chat-GPT, jobs previously thought immune to automation now appear to be at risk. Or are they?

Read more in the blog published on the LMI website.

The 10^th of October is World Mental Health Day and this year’s theme stresses that good mental health should be a human right for all. Currently, this is sadly far from reality.

Mental health conditions may be a barrier to work. And it is increasingly clear that mental health inequalities are also present amongst those in work. The quality of jobs and employment have implications for workers’ mental health and wellbeing.