IER Newsletter - Current Issue

Shaping a vision for VET in England by 2050

The VET2050 project is launching a series of vision workshops bringing together practitioners, policymakers, employers, and learners to co‑design what high‑quality vocational education and training could look like in England by 2050. These workshops explore long‑term challenges and opportunities, from technological change to regional inequalities, and invite participants to imagine ambitious, evidence‑informed futures for the sector. Read MoreLink opens in a new window 

VET2050 is funded by the Youth Futures Foundation and delivered by the Institute for Employment Research (Prof Terence HogarthLink opens in a new window, Dr Emily EricksonLink opens in a new window and Stef PooleLink opens in a new window) in collaboration with colleagues at SKOPE, University of Oxford (Dr James Robson and Dr Yushan Xie ). Our recent blog postLink opens in a new window provides more detail on the project’s aims, approach, and how these workshops contribute to a wider programme of research and engagement.

If you’d like to stay informed about upcoming workshops, publications, and project activities, we warmly invite you to join the VET2050 mailing list by visiting the website.

Network-based recruitment and the labour market effects

A new research paper by IER's Dr Jamelia Harris Link opens in a new windowhas been published in Work Employment and Society. The article analyses how employers and university-educated jobseekers behave when networks are overly used, and connections supersede merit in recruitment. It advances the debate by exploring the effects of networks on how the labour market for the university-educated functions, and how the normalisation of network-based recruitment affects this segment of the labour market. Read MoreLink opens in a new window 

Using data from Sierra Leone, findings show that overuse of networks for recruitment can be harmful to the labour market, and is reminiscent of Schelling’s model, where individual incentives lead to a collective result that is less desirable. Actions by firms promote perceptions of unfairness in the labour market. Jobseekers search based on the perceived probability of being recruited due to network membership, and not on the most compatible or desired job. The data show that some unconnected workers respond by limiting search, exiting the labour market, becoming underemployed, or attempting to build networks.

Harris, J. (2026). Who you know or what you know? Job search and matching in the presence of network-based recruitment.Link opens in a new window Work, Employment and Society.

Supporting the digital and green transitions

IER's Peter Dickinson joined meetings in the Horizon Bridges 5.0 project in Vienna. He led one of the workshops as part of the foresight element of the project, discussing the policy implications across a range of potential scenarios that the transitions might bring.

Celebrating International Women’s Day: advancing gender equality in public procurement

On this International Women’s Day, we’re proud to highlight Dr Katharina SarterLink opens in a new window’s work on socially responsible public procurement. Accounting for about one-third of GDP, public procurement has increasingly become a lever for promoting equality. Katharina’s work has examined public policies and their implementation in different countries and sheds light on approaches, challenges and opportunities to lever public procurement to promote equality, fair working conditions, and more inclusive decision‑making. Read MoreLink opens in a new window

Drawing on past and ongoing work, Katharina recently published a practice-oriented article for professionals working to promote gender equality that outlined key aspects of and approaches to using public procurement as a tool for fostering equality, published in the German Legal Handbook for Women’s and Gender Equality Officers. By providing a practice-oriented introduction to gender responsive public procurement and how gender equality can feature in procurements of different sizes and forms, this article outlines the linkage between public purchasing practices and equality and provides practical examples for targeted and proportionate approaches to leverage procurement in pursuit of equality.

Why this matters today: IWD reminds us that structural change doesn’t happen by accident. It is driven by people who challenge existing systems, generate new knowledge, and push for equality in every policy domain - including public procurement. Katharina’s contribution is a powerful example of this in action.

The full article is featured in the Legal Handbook for Women’s and Gender Equality Officers:
https://www.dashoefer.de/handbuch/rechtshandbuch-fuer-frauen-und-gleichstellungsbeauftragte.htmlLink opens in a new window