The idea of a skills gap suggests that employers have jobs available but cannot find skilled applicants because higher education is poorly aligned with workforce needs. This idea is shaping higher education and workforce development policy at the national and state levels, yet limited research exists on the experiences of employers and educators with skills needs, teaching and training, and cross-sector relations. Using field theory to conceptualize the complex relations among specific industrial and educational contexts, the skills valued by actors within them (i.e., cultural capital), and how college-to-workforce transitions involve moving from one field to the next, we analyze interview data from 145 educators and employers. Results indicate a shared view that skills are not simply "skills" nor are they reducible to occupational categories, but instead involve complex habits of mind that encompass cognitive, inter-, and intra-personal competencies. Analyses also highlight the importance of active learning to cultivate these competencies, the paucity of workplace training, widespread use of screening for "culture fit" as part of hiring, and the existence of multiple forms of cross-sector partnerships that cultivate students' social and cultural capital. We conclude that the skills gap, and the current focus on structural solutions such as career pathway programs and apprenticeships, is an incomplete response to a complex, cultural, and pedagogical problem. Instead, policymakers should focus on supporting the "skills infrastructure" in a systemic fashion by investing in teacher professional development, career services, and a variety of cross-field partnerships. Ultimately, we conclude that by narrowing ideas about the purpose of higher education to a sole focus on vocational preparation, the skills gap idea is fueling policies and practices that undermine the interests of employers, students, and society.

This publication, commissioned jointly with the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), improves our understanding of the workings of the labour market and the ability of the labour market to meet the skill needs of employers. The analysis within this review will help inform the methodology used by the MAC to identify occupations that are considered to be skilled, suffering from shortages and which it would be sensible to fill through migration. It is recognised that where skill shortages exist, they are economically damaging, and that meeting employers’ skill needs is essential for economic success. Reducing skill shortages would contribute to the UK Commission’s ambition of raising prosperity and opportunity in the UK, both by enabling employers to operate with greater efficiency, and by helping individuals to access the opportunities available to them. And the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has been charged with identifying occupations in which shortages of skilled labour cannot readily be filled from within the domestic labour market, potentially justifying inward migration of individuals from outside the European Economic Area (EEA). This publication seeks to answer key questions about the existence of skill shortages and needs, and also explores how they can be measured.

Views on what is happening to labor demand in the middle of the U.S. labor market are strongly divergent. Many economists argue that the middle is “hollowing out” as a result of digital technologies and globalization that make it easy for employers to replace workers doing routine tasks. But many employers argue they can’t fill the middle-skill jobs they have. My own calculations based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that the traditional middle of the job market – composed primarily of construction, production and clerical jobs that require fairly little education – has indeed been declining rapidly. But another set of middle-skill jobs – requiring more postsecondary education or training - in health care, mechanical maintenance and repair and some services - is consistently growing, as are skill needs within traditionally unskilled jobs. Among these are the ones that employers have had trouble filling. While many employers have done little to attract new workers by raising wages or investing in training, some employer reluctance to invest in skill-building on their own makes economic sense; and our educational system has done too little to generate employees with these skills as well. A new set of education and training policies and practices are hopeful in this regard, though policies to more directly expand the numbers of middle-paying jobs might also be needed.

The aim of this report is to provide new insights on the role of four emerging technologies: Cyber Security; Mobile technologies; Green IT and Cloud Computing, in driving high level skills needs in the Digital sector. This report combines data analysis, literature reviews and qualitative interviews with over twenty employers and experts to provide a comprehensive assessment on the nature of skills needs, job roles and career pathways for these technologies.

The aim of the Review of Employer Collective Measures study is to identify credible research from across the four countries of the UK, and other applicable international evidence, to shed light on how the level, nature and quality of training may be improved. The study comprises several separate reviews. The conceptual review outlines the economic theory relating to sub-optimal investments in training, and the policy review looks at the evaluative evidence in relation to those measures which might increase the take-up of training. The reviews are intended to advise which policy levers might most effectively increase employer investment, direct or indirect, in training. This report, the empirical review, sits between the conceptual and policy reviews. It provides evidence of: (i) the extent of employers' investments in training; (ii) the factors which persuade employers to train; and (iii) the barriers to training faced by employers.

The aim of the study is to assess the strategic skill needs of the bio-medical sector. This sector has been defined as the combination of the pharmaceutical, medical biotechnology, and medical technologies sectors; in other words, those industries which produce the drugs, therapies, and equipment for the health care system in the UK and abroad. Because of major scientific breakthroughs over recent years which have the scope to radically improve the well being of the population - especially those currently suffering or at risk of chronic illness – the industry is very much seen as one with colossal future potential. From an employment and skills perspective there are many uncertainties relating to the situation in England but, on balance, the outlook is an optimistic one. England currently has an enviable position in the global market given the level of research and development activity which is concentrated in the country, especially around Cambridge and the corridor from the west of London and along the Thames Valley towards Oxford. It also has a substantial manufacturing capacity to be found across the country but notably in the North West and South East.

In Canada, as in many industrialized countries, a combination of factors, including stronger productivity growth among goods than services producers, competition from low-cost foreign producers of clothing, textiles and other goods and strong growth in demand for intermediate and final services, have led, over time, to a major change in the structure of the economy. The shift of labour from manufacturing to services has followed a more gradual trend in Canada than the United Kingdom, the United States and many other OECD countries and, over the 1976–79 to 2001–05 period examined in the paper, output in Canadian manufacturing still increased at a significant pace – suggesting the Canadian economy does not meet the more restrictive criteria of de-industrialization. The structural changes that have taken place and continue to occur, however, have potentially important implications for the nature of work and for productivity and income growth in the Canadian economy.

One of the strengths of this study is that it connected students, faculty, learning professionals and employers in uncovering more about the role of ePortfolios in postsecondary education. The results of this research along with the literature review continue to emphasize the importance and value of ePortfolios as a tool for learning, assessment and employment. Further research to examine how ePortfolios can be used to achieve essential skills development, assessment and employability will almost certainly take place. Colleges and universities have an opportunity, through their program advisory committees and industry partners, to engage in a conversation with employers to learn more about employers’ values, needs and requirements.

The “future of work” is here, so businesses, governments and educational institutions must lay the foundation for Canada’s future workforce.