This report considers the impact of telework/ICT-mobile work (T/ICTM) on the world of work. T/ICTM can be defined as the use of ICT – such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers – for the purposes of work outside the employer’s premises. The report synthesises research carried out by Eurofound’s network of European correspondents in 10 EU Member States – Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK – and by ILO country experts in Argentina, Brazil, India, Japan and the US. These contributors were asked to review and summarise the findings of data and research literature on the subject of T/ICTM in their respective countries.

Communities across Canada need a national strategy to ensure the move to a zero-carbon economy leaves no one behind. For the first time, this report uses census data to identify the regions in each province with the greatest reliance on fossil fuel jobs. The new analysis comes after the federal government announced last fall it will launch a task force in 2018 on a “just transition” policy framework for certain sectors. In general, the broad goal of a just transition is to ensure an equitable, productive outcome for all workers in the decarbonized future.

The world of work continues to change at speed, and advances in technology will continue to stretch what is possible. In light of these rapid changes, an agile culture remains a critical organizational competency. Yet agility alone doesn't guarantee success. A continued emphasis on productivity and incremental reactions to the current business environment are two mindsets that keep business treading water rather than swimming in the fast lane. The transformations that will help organizations swiftly and confidently embrace the future involve plotting a path to what customers will value tomorrow. One way companies are forgoing ahead is by creating integrated people strategies that pay attention to today's needs, while tipping the balance in favour of investing for tomorrow.

This exploratory piece of research, undertaken by the Institute of Employment Studies, draws together a wide range of evidence on the importance of skills for the self-employed. This is one of the most comprehensive reviews and syntheses undertaken in the UK of the evidence on the relationships between skills and self-employment. It provides an invaluable resource to inform policy in this area covering business start-up, support for the unemployed to become self-employed, enterprise education, and business growth.

The world of work is in a state of flux, which is causing considerable anxiety—and with good reason. There is growing polarization of labor-market opportunities between high- and low-skill jobs, unemployment and underemployment especially among young people, stagnating incomes for a large proportion of households, and income inequality. Migration and its effects on jobs has become a sensitive political issue in many advanced economies. And from Mumbai to Manchester, public debate rages about the future of work and whether there will be enough jobs to gainfully employ everyone. he development of automation enabled by technologies including robotics and artificial intelligence brings the promise of higher productivity (and with productivity, economic growth), increased efficiencies, safety, and convenience. But these technologies also raise difficult questions about the broader impact of automation on jobs, skills, wages, and the nature of work itself. Many activities that workers carry out today have the potential to be automated. At the same time, job-matching sites such as LinkedIn and Monster are changing and expanding the way individuals look for work and companies identify and recruit talent. Independent workers are increasingly choosing to offer their services on digital platforms including Upwork, Uber, and Etsy and, in the process, challenging conventional ideas about how and where work is undertaken. For policy makers, business leaders, and workers themselves, these shifts create considerable uncertainty, alongside the potential benefits. This briefing note aims to provide a fact base on the multiple trends and forces buffeting the world of work drawing on recent research by the McKinsey Global Institute and others.

This report sets out the findings of a study into the motivators and barriers to participation in workplace learning by low skilled employees. Low skilled in the UK is usually considered to be below NVQ level 2 qualifications. The study was carried out by the Employment Research Institute at Edinburgh Napier University on behalf of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. The report presents the results of a survey of both employee and employer views on participation in workplace learning in the care sector in north east England and the hotel sector in Yorkshire and the Humber region. The hotels and catering sector has the highest relative and absolute skill gaps in low skilled occupations, with some 63 per cent of staff suffering skills gaps. In contrast, the care sector has an apparent strong training culture, with care staff expected to progress to NVQ level 3 and only five per cent of low skilled staff suffered a skills gap.

Digitally enabled automation and artificial intelligence (AI) are set to become the primary drivers of the next technological revolution. To gauge the potential impact on companies, employees and society, this report focuses on nine European “digital front-runners”—Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. We find that automation and AI bring significant benefits, including new jobs and increased productivity. However, employers, employees and policy makers face challenges in managing the shift to a new economy, which requires significant reskilling and a socially responsible transition.

This report explores Canada’s education-to-employment transition, how it differs from that of the rest of the world, and what the experience is like for Canada’s youth, businesses, and educational institutions.

This report examines the barriers that the offline population, defined as those who have not used the Internet (from any device) in the past 12 months, faces in adopting the Internet. As the latest in a series on the Internet (see Internet matters: The Net’s sweeping impact on growth, jobs, and prosperity; Online and upcoming: The Internet’s impact on aspiring countries; Online and upcoming: The Internet’s impact on India; Lions go digital: The Internet’s transformative impact on Africa; China’s e-tail revolution: Online shopping as a catalyst to growth; and China’s digital transformation: The Internet’s impact on productivity and growth), this report builds on our previous work; here, we have taken a global approach to the challenge of expanding the Internet user base while also offering in-depth profiles of six countries grappling with specific barriers. In the future, we plan to examine the mechanisms or solutions that might help overcome the barriers we have identified.