In this report, the authors offer a roadmap to guide executives toward action to address this critical issue. Recommendations are based on insights from multiple IBM Institute for Business Value research initiatives, including surveys of thousands of global executives representing multiple industries in dozens of countries, as well as performance benchmarking data from hundreds of organizations globally. Through research and analysis, it was discovered that certain skills development tactics have a strong impact on closing skills gaps. The authors have crafted a set of recommendations based on the skill development tactics that have a strong impact on closing skills gaps; these recommendations leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to assist organizations in closing skills-related gaps.

This report [prepared for the Good Things Foundation focuses on the costs and associated benefits of ensuring that all UK adults learn Basic Digital Skills. The research was designed to establish the likely investment required in order to achieve a fully digitally included society and to estimate the benefits that will go to individuals and society as a result of this initiative. The report is based on data measuring Basic Digital Skills from the Lloyds Consumer Digital Index. The authors suggest that based on the evidence gathered there are substantial gains for individuals and for society as a whole from ensuring that all UK adults learn Basic Digital Skills. The authors argue that ensuring that all UK adults learn Basic Digital Skills will benefit not only the individuals who develop these skills, but also the economy as a whole. Individuals can take advantage of digital skills to complete their daily tasks more efficiently, while also being more productive at work and hence be compensated with higher salaries.

This report aims to shed light on some of the key drivers which are worth taking into account when assessing the effect of new technologies on the future of work and skills. It combines a synthesis of the most recent and robust scientific evidence available with original JRC research on issues which have been often overlooked by existing studies. In particular, the report provides new insights on the interplay between automation and work organisation, the extent and nature of platform work, and the patterns of occupational changes across EU regions. The first chapter discusses the impact of technology on employment. It overviews the most recent estimates on technology-induced job creation and destruction, and provides new insights on the role of workplace organisation in shaping the effect of new technologies on labour markets. The second chapter discusses how skills needs are shifting towards digital and non-cognitive skills, showing evidence of an increasing shortage of these skills in the EU, which education systems are not fully tackling yet. The third chapter reviews the opportunities and challenges related to the recent upwards trend in new forms of employment in the EU, focusing on the results of the second wave of the COLLEEM survey on platform work in the EU. The final chapter presents results from a new JRC-Eurofound study on the patterns of occupational change in EU regions in the last 15 years which shows that low-wage jobs have increasingly concentrated in peripheral regions while higher-wage jobs are becoming more and more concentrated in capital regions, leading to increasing territorial disparities, both across and within EU Member States.

This report highlights the significant and far-reaching impact of emerging technologies on the Australian workforce in the next fifteen years and how the growth in technological capabilities is already transforming supply chains, reshaping the workforce and redefining jobs. Prepared by artificial-intelligence (AI) analytics platform Faethm in conjunction with Australian Computer Society (ACS), the report finds that 2.7 million Australian jobs are at risk from automation over the next fifteen years, but more than twice as many jobs can be created if Australia decides to invest in the skills development of its workforce. The report highlights how various industries, occupations and roles will be affected by automation and augmentation in the near future. It provides insights for businesses to inform future workforce development plans, as well as for policy makers to maximise the participation rate of all citizens with regards to opportunities afforded by the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Technological developments are likely to bring many new opportunities, which may be even larger in emerging economies and may allow them to 'leapfrog' certain stages of development. Notwithstanding these opportunities, emerging economies face significant challenges associated with rapid technological progress. Many of these challenges are the same as in advanced economies, but differences in starting conditions may result in a greater threat for the emerging world. This study explores the benefits and risks brought by this new technological wave from the perspective of thirteen key emerging economies: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey. In particular, it examines: the risk of automation; whether labour markets are polarising; and the potential benefits (but also challenges) of the platform economy.

Top executives increasingly worry about the impact that their companies, strategies and activities will have on the environment, local communities and their employees — and how they can balance this with cost and market pressures and quarterly earnings targets. Against this background, one somewhat intractable challenge is beginning to stand out: the size and composition of the workforce. Automation, primarily in the form of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), brings with it the promise of improved productivity and higher profits — but at what cost to employment and, by extension, to society? What responsibility do corporations have to reskill employees who otherwise would be displaced by technology? And what value does reskilling offer an organisation?

Australia is in the midst of a major economic, social and political transition, driven by global competition and technological transformation. Over the next 10 years, the pace of technological change will be highly disruptive to the workplace. This report examines the impact it will have on workers and the skills they need to thrive in the Australian economy. Using the Oxford Economics' Skills Matching Model, the authors simulate how the Australian labour market will evolve around these challenges, exploring how new technology applications will simultaneously displace workers from certain jobs and create new demands in others.

A commissioned study by the Institute for Adult Learning (IAL) of skill webs embedded in the global value chains of leading transnational companies (TNCs) found that senior managers and executives in TNCs viewed Singapore as a global talent hub, but expressed concerns that Singaporeans were failing to adequately demonstrate the behavioural competencies that are used to benchmark top corporate talent (Brown and Lauder, 2014; Brown, Lauder and Sung, 2017). This is despite Singapore being widely recognised as having one of the most sophisticated skills formation systems in the world, and consistently ranked at the top of major education league tables. 1 This follow-up study seeks to examine corporate talent management practices in leading TNCs to shed light on the alleged Singaporean talent deficit. In particular, it aims to gain a better understanding of talent and talent management – along with its relationship to skills – in four key industry sectors of the Singapore economy, namely banking and finance, infocomm, professional services, and pharmaceuticals and biotech. All four industry sectors are widely seen as trailblazing in their adoption of digital technologies, and therefore this study also seeks to understand how TNCs in these industry sectors are responding to digital disruption and the likely impact their digital strategy would have on talent management practices. There are significant policy implications on the study of talent and talent management for Singapore’s skills policy in the context of SkillsFuture. First, Singapore is increasingly hosting global jobs, with a greater concentration of its economic activities in regional head office functions, research, and advanced manufacturing. Both established TNCs like GSK, and new entrants like Google and Twitter, have set up Asian headquarters in Singapore. New Asian TNCs also see Singapore as a gateway for global expansion. The ability of Singapore’s skills policy to nurture a pipeline of top indigenous corporate talent is absolutely critical in ensuring that local workers have access to quality jobs generated by the country’s industrial policy. The strong coupling among industrial policy, job creation and local employment that has been the hallmark of Singapore’s economic success may erode if skills policy cannot support the development of a pipeline of top indigenous corporate talent. For instance, the projection by the Economic Development Board (EDB) of the creation of 2,000 digital economy jobs in Singapore over the next four years, carried with it a cautionary note that more efforts were required to ensure that Singaporeans have the skills to take up these jobs (The Straits Times, 27 July 2017). A 2017 study by talent outsourcing firm KellyOCG, likewise found that C-suite leaders in Singapore had an acute awareness of talent shortage, relative to the rest of the Asia-Pacific region (Hamilton, 2017). It is clear that Singapore’s success in its next phase of development rests significantly on ensuring that the quality jobs created are accessible to Singaporean workers. Second, SkillsFuture aims to provide Singaporeans with greater control over their skills and career development, marking a significant shift from the top-down approach of past skills policies, where educational planning and vocational training were tightly integrated to prepare workers for jobs. Built on a vision of skills mastery for longer-term employability, the empowerment of individuals should genuinely enable them to develop the expertise to be the top of their fields, and be demanded in the labour market. The success of SkillsFuture, therefore, hinges on the ability of Singapore’s skills policy to nurture a cadre of top-notch talent. There is thus an urgent need to develop a deeper understanding of how talent is being defined, managed or measured, or what distinguishes talented employees from the rest of the workforce in local and global talent markets.

This report highlights that apprenticeships programmes in England have a significantly smaller proportion of off-the-job training, including general education, than those in other countries where apprenticeships are a critical element of the education system. A series of recommendations are made as to how the English apprenticeship programme could be improved. The report covers the following issues, providing recommendations: giving apprentices the right quantity and mix of training; including sufficient general education; delivering quality in off-the-job training; linking off-the-job training in an apprenticeship to an occupational qualification; ensuring breadth in qualifications and training provision; articulating apprenticeships with T-levels; supporting equity and social mobility; and enhancing the off-the-job content of youth apprenticeships., Abstract from publisher's website with additional information.