References
This database has been compiled to provide a searchable repository on published research addressing “future skills” that will be a useful tool for researchers and individuals interested in the future of work and the future of skills.
The database integrates existing bibliographies focused on future skills and the future of work as well as the results of new ProQuest and Google Scholar searches. The process of building the database also involved consultations with experts and the identification of key research organizations publishing in this area, as well as searches of those organizations’ websites. For a more detailed explanation of how the database was assembled, please read the Future Skills Reference Database Technical Note.
The current database, assembled by future skills researchers at the Diversity Institute, is not exhaustive but represents a first step in building a more comprehensive database. It will be regularly updated and expanded as new material is published and identified. In that vein, we encourage those with suggestions for improvements to this database to connect with us directly at di.fsc@ryerson.ca.
From this database, we also selected 39 key publications and created an Annotated Bibliography. It is designed to serve as a useful tool for researchers, especially Canadian researchers, who may need some initial guidance in terms of the key references in this area.
Search the database
Reference
Trouble in the making? The future of manufacturing-led development
The surest way to raise workers’ incomes is to create high-quality jobs. Historically, these have been found in manufacturing, but jump-starting job growth in manufacturing is no easy task for policymakers or the private sector. Trouble in the Making? The Future of Manufacturing-Led Development aims to help policymakers and business leaders envision new approaches to promoting manufacturing-led development. Focusing on the impacts of new technologies and shifting patterns of globalization, the book recognizes that “business as usual” will not succeed in promoting manufacturing-led job growth in developing countries. However, it makes the case that wealth-generating, job-creating opportunities can indeed be seized. Success requires new approaches to promoting manufacturing that consider each economy’s competitiveness, capabilities, and connectedness, within the context of ever-shifting international trade patterns, marketplace demands, and financial strengths.
Reference
Forecasting the benefits of the UK commission’s programme of investments
The UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) is responsible for two innovative, strategic skills investment funds: the Employer Investment Fund (EIF) and Growth and Innovation Fund (GIF). The purpose of the funds is to foster the development of sustainable training infrastructure designed to increase employer investment in skills and address skill needs on a sector basis. This study was aimed at forecasting the costs and potential benefits of the investments. Overall, the study indicates that the investments have the potential to deliver a significant level of benefits and achieve relatively strong value for money.
Reference
Does more general education reduce the risk of future unemployment? Evidence from labor market experiences during the Great Recession
This paper investigates whether more general education reduces the risk of future unemployment by examining individuals' labor market experiences during the Great Recession (2008-2010). To estimate the causal impact of differences in educational content, I exploit a reform in Sweden in the 1990s which prolonged vocational programs in upper secondary school and gave them a considerably larger general content. The research design takes advantage of variation across regions and over time in the implementation of a large-scale pilot which preceded the reform. I find no evidence that having attended a longer and more general program reduced the risk of experiencing unemployment during the 2008-2010 recession. Among students with low GPAs from compulsory school, attending a pilot program seems instead to have led to an increased risk of unemployment. This pattern is strongest among male students and the effect is likely to be explained by the increased dropout rate which resulted from the change of the programs.
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Navigating the future of work: Can we point business, workers, and social institutions in the same direction
What images does “the future of work” conjure up for you? In his 1930 essay, Economic possibilities for our grandchildren, John Maynard Keynes foretold a future of “technological unemployment” and 15-hour workweeks.1 We’ve long since given up on early 20th-century utopian visions of a leisure society in which machines do almost everything for us. But there’s no question that what we actually do these days is changing fast, and will continue to change. Navigating the future of work Can we point business, workers, and social institutions in the same direction? By John Hagel, Jeff Schwartz, and Josh Bersin Illustration by Tim Marrs
Reference
The state of digital literacy in Canada: A literature review
The main purpose of this literature review is to bring together relevant research in order to contextualize the Brookfield Institute’s broader State of Digital Literacy in Canada study. While scoping out Canadian policy texts and existing programs, it also draws on international research, best practices, and the work of digital literacy experts globally to define digital literacy, the skills it comprises, as well as its importance. These sources have pulled mainly from educational and pedagogical research, work on technology and the economy, as well as a variety of policy papers, reports, recommendations, and studies.
Reference
Preparing U.S. workers and employers for an autonomous vehicle future
The authors study the probable effects of automated vehicles (AVs) on U.S. workers, and how these effects can be managed. They offer simulations and scenarios of crucial impacts and recommend policies to mitigate unfortunate impacts while also setting an agenda for policy research. The authors hope to motivate policymakers and interested parties to act now to reduce the negative effects on workers.
Reference
The motherhood pay gap: A review of the issues, theory and international evidence
The motherhood pay gap measures the pay gap between mothers and non-mothers, the latter defined in most econometric studies as women without dependent children. It also measures the pay gap between mothers and fathers. This is different from the gender pay gap, which measures the pay gap between all women and all men in the workforce. While there is a considerable international literature on the motherhood gap, differences both in methodologies and in how mothers, non-mothers and fathers are defined using available data create difficulties in comparing estimates. Moreover, in many countries, the data are often unsuitable for analysis, typically because the questions posed in surveys make it difficult to establish the identity of a child’s mother or father (particularly in developing countries where the nuclear family is less common). Nevertheless, many studies draw on international harmonized pay and employment data which provide a useful basis for cross-country comparison, and others provide informative trend analyses for single countries.
Reference
Racing with or against the machine? Evidence from Europe
A fast-growing literature shows that digital technologies are displacing labor from routine tasks, raising concerns that labor is racing against the machine. We develop a task based framework to estimate the aggregate labor demand and employment effects of routine-replacing technological change (RRTC), along with the underlying mechanisms. We show that while RRTC has indeed had strong displacement effects in the European Union between 1999 and 2010, it has simultaneously created new jobs through increased product demand, outweighing displacement effects and resulting in net employment growth. However, we also show that this finding depends on the distribution of gains from technological progress.
Reference
What interventions create jobs? A review of the evidence
Creating new jobs and in particular “good jobs”—in other words, jobs in high productivity sectors and that offer decent working conditions—is one of the major challenges faced by low- and middle-income countries.