White Paper

This paper focuses on low-wage workers—who they are, where they work, where they live, and what their future challenges may be in regard to education/skill requirements, job quality, and wages. Analysis of employment projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reveals that the future of work will be shaped by much more than labor market skill demands. And in the future, rising wages will depend more on the wage growth within occupations than on any change in the mix of occupations.

The World Development Report (WDR) 2019: The Changing Nature of Work studies how the nature of work is changing as a result of advances in technology today. Fears that robots will take away jobs from people have dominated the discussion over the future of work, but the World Development Report 2019 finds that on balance this appears to be unfounded. Work is constantly reshaped by technological progress. Firms adopt new ways of production, markets expand, and societies evolve. Overall, technology brings opportunity, paving the way to create new jobs, increase productivity, and deliver effective public services. Firms can grow rapidly thanks to digital transformation, expanding their boundaries and reshaping traditional production patterns. The rise of the digital platform firm means that technological effects reach more people faster than ever before. Technology is changing the skills that employers seek. Workers need to be better at complex problem-solving, teamwork and adaptability. Digital technology is also changing how people work and the terms on which they work. Even in advanced economies, short-term work, often found through online platforms, is posing similar challenges to those faced by the world’s informal workers. The Report analyzes these changes and considers how governments can best respond. Investing in human capital must be a priority for governments in order for workers to build the skills in demand in the labor market. In addition, governments need to enhance social protection and extend it to all people in society, irrespective of the terms on which they work. To fund these investments in human capital and social protection, the Report offers some suggestions as to how governments can mobilize additional revenues by increasing the tax base.

The President’s Upskill initiative is focused on realizing the full potential of America’s workforce by empowering Americans with the education and training they need to develop new skills and earn higher wages. Some front-line workers may be just starting their careers, while some may be older workers who don’t have the basic skills to allow them to take on more responsibility and reach higher paying roles. Others could also be workers who may have the competencies, but not formal credentials, to excel at a more senior-level job. This report focuses on central questions that are driving the work of the initiative to help more Americans “upskill”.

To realize education’s promise, we need to prioritize learning, not just schooling. This Report argues that achieving learning for all will require three complementary strategies: First, assess learning to make it a serious goal. Information itself creates incentives for reform, but many countries lack the right metrics to measure learning. Second, act on evidence to make schools work for learning. Great schools build strong teacher-learner relationships in classrooms. As brain science has advanced and educators have innovated, the knowledge of how students learn most effectively has greatly expanded. But the way many countries, communities, and schools approach education often differs greatly from the most promising, evidence-based approaches. Third, align actors to make the entire system work for learning. Innovation in classrooms won’t have much impact if technical and political barriers at the system level prevent a focus on learning at the school level. This is the case in many countries stuck in low-learning traps; extricating them requires focused attention on the deeper causes.

Over the past several decades, the share of U.S. workers holding an occupational license has grown sharply. When designed and implemented carefully, licensing can offer important health and safety protections to consumers, as well as benefits to workers. However, the current licensing regime in the United States also creates substantial costs, and often the requirements for obtaining a license are not in sync with the skills needed for the job. There is evidence that licensing requirements raise the price of goods and services, restrict employment opportunities, and make it more difficult for workers to take their skills across State lines. Too often, policymakers do not carefully weigh these costs and benefits when making decisions about whether or how to regulate a profession through licensing. In some cases, alternative forms of occupational regulation, such as State certification, may offer a better balance between consumer protections and flexibility for workers. This report outlines the growth of licensing over the past several decades, its costs and benefits, and its impacts on workers and work arrangements. The report recommends several best practices to ensure that licensing protects consumers without placing unnecessary restrictions on employment, innovation, or access to important goods and services.

Manufacturing is a major contributor to the UK economy and continues to be a key economic policy priority both in the UK and other developed economies. Manufacturing is a heterogeneous sector encompassing activities from those which require skill inputs of the highest order, to more mundane, more labour-intensive activities. This variety has been reflected in the report wherever pertinent to do so.

Skillset is the Sector Skills Council representing the Creative Media Industries and as of 1st April 2010 the Fashion and Textiles sector. Skillset works with both the industry and government to identify and tackle the skills and productivity needs of fashion and textiles employers throughout the UK to make sure they have access to the right people, with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time. We do this by influencing and leading; developing skills, learning and development and education policy; and through opening up the industries to the UK's pool of diverse talent. Skillset is responsible for the production of Sector Skills Assessments (SSA) for the UK and each of the UK's four constituent nations. This is the executive summary for the SSA for the fashion and textiles industry in the UK.

The O*NET Program is the nation's primary source of occupational information. Valid data are essential to understanding the rapidly changing nature of work and how it impacts the workforce and U.S. economy. From this information, applications are developed to facilitate the development and maintenance of a skilled workforce.

Skillset is the Sector Skills Council for the Creative Media industry, representing eleven sub sectors which are grouped into four sectors of the DCMS Creative Industries classification. At the heart of the Creative Industries, the Creative Media sector includes companies involved in: Film, Television, Radio, Photo Imaging, Interactive Content Design, Publishing, Animation, Content for Computer Games, Commercials and Promos, Corporate Production, Postproduction and Visual Special Effects and Other Specialist Facilities. Within the wider definition of the creative industries, the Creative Media industries are bound by common output in the form of creative content and increasingly the boundaries between these business and sectors are becoming blurred. Whilst there are still key distribution platforms including; cinema, TV, books/print Media and online and mobile, companies creating content are doing so in a way that can be used for multiple platforms. The business context is providing an opening of channels for distribution and ‘multi platform content’ is key.