This report provides an overview of global and regional trends in employment, unemployment, labour force participation and productivity, as well as dimensions of job quality such as employment status, informal employment and working poverty. It also examines income and social developments, and provides an indicator of social unrest. Key findings are that are unemployment is projected to rise after a long period of stability, and that many people are working fewer paid hours than they would like or lack adequate access to paid work. The report also takes a close look at decent work deficits and persistent labour market inequalities, noting that income inequality is higher than previously thought.

This report analyses key job quality indicators, devoting particular attention to informality, underemployment and temporary employment. It also takes stock of structural sectoral shifts and ageing, two long-term trends likely to add further pressures on the labour market. Key findings include: (1) global economic growth has rebounded and is expected to remain stable but low; (2) global unemployment remains elevated at more than 190 million; (3) vulnerable employment is on the rise; (4) the pace of working poverty reduction is slowing; (5) significant variations in employment outcomes continue to exist between regions and countries; (6) inequalities in labour market outcomes persist; (7) looking ahead, the projected structural shifts to the service sector could create complex pressures on job quality; and (8) an ageing population will add further pressure to future labour market challenges.

A type of work-integrated learning, co-op combines academic studies with field-related work experience and has seen an increase in popularity, thanks in part to financial boosts from federal and provincial governments and its ability to ease students' transition to the labour market. Using data from Statistics Canada's National Graduate Survey, this report assesses the role of co-op programs in labour market success, specifically its link between higher incomes and career success. Participating in school/work co-op programs is linked to higher incomes and a higher likelihood of success in the labour market after graduation, but some get more benefits than others. The effect of participating in a co-op program differs for certain groups, including women, visible minorities and immigrants. Co-op outcomes further differ between fields of study and university-based and college-based programs. At the college level, co-op participation does not necessarily lead to higher incomes after graduation across all fields of study, with significant benefits only seen in science and engineering programs. The report recommends government policymakers and educational institutions continue to support and expand co-op programs, making them accessible to more students while being aware programs in arts, education and social science do not appear to be as beneficial as co-ops in STEM fields. The report concludes by highlighting the need to carefully monitor results, improve and adapt programs to maximize benefits for particular fields of study, and assess how they can better play a role in overcoming gender and racial wage gaps.

This report 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 report 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 Working Students Success Network (WSSN), an expansion of the Working Families Success Network into nineteen community colleges, represents an innovative, comprehensive strategy for supporting low-income students and students of color. The WSSN strategy brings together and integrates access to a full range of services and supports to help students improve their financial knowledge, budgeting skills and choice of financial products, and develop and implement achievable career plans, putting students on a path to securing marketable postsecondary credentials and achieving economic success. To better understand how colleges that are part of the WSSN implement this approach, the WSSN national leadership group contracted Mathematica Policy Research and DVP-Praxis to document key aspects of WSSN implementation, and to analyze participant characteristics and service receipt and their relationship to academic outcomes. Taken together, the findings from the implementation and outcomes studies of the WSSN suggest that community colleges can mobilize to address the needs of low-income students and students of color., Key findings include: More than 50,000 students were served across the participating colleges, with large shares from low-income households (as measured by Pell grant receipt) and traditionally underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, in line with the strategy's focus on low-income students and students of color; Despite emphasis on integrated services and high-touch (one-on-one) services in the theory of change, only 32 per cent of students received services in multiple pillars and 33 per cent received at least one high-touch service; Service receipt varied widely across colleges - receipt of services across multiple pillars varied from below 5 per cent at some colleges to above 90 per cent at others, and the same range applied for receipt of at least one high-touch service; Receipt of services in multiple pillars was positively associated with persistence (though negatively associated with credential completion), and receipt of a high-touch service was positively related to both persistence and completion.

As automation, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and other advances transform nearly every facet of the labor market, workers are going back to school by the millions. (More than 14 million, by one count.1 ) In the Working Learner Index, Bright Horizons®, publisher of the Modern Family Index, undertook an unprecedented survey of more than 30,000 workers who are already learning on the job. The findings provide a window into the lives, aspirations, and goals of a highly engaged subset of employees who are looking for credentials with a longer shelf life. According the Working Learner Index, workers understand that change is coming: nearly 90% believe automation will impact their industry and transform jobs. The results suggest that workers understand the importance of up-skilling – and deeply value employers’ commitments to supporting it.

Working Futures provides a comprehensive and detailed model of the UK labour market and skills needs. It projects the future size and shape of the labour market by considering employment prospects by industry, occupation, qualification level, gender and employment status. This edition of the report projects labour market information for the period 2017 to 2027.

High-quality, work-based learning (WBL) opportunities can confer a number of benefits for students, schools, employers and communities. As such opportunities integrate applicable academic concepts and state standards, and evaluate a student's mastery of key employability skills, students can reap greater benefits than from traditional teenage employment opportunities. This report outlines state-level policy components in the US that help ensure WBL opportunities for high school students are well-coordinated, broadly accessible, aligned to state or regional workforce demands, and of high quality.

This series of articles on work of the future features responses from interviews with Anne Driscoll, Colleen Hayward, Chris Kutarna, Stephen McIntosh, Kellie Parker, Sharon Parker, Clare Payne, Dominic Price, Chris Salisbury, and Salah Sukkarieh, and responses from the Rio Tinto Work of the Future survey, conducted during January 2019 across Australia in a nationally representative survey of 1534 people. The articles are: How will automation and digitisation affect how we work? ; How do we engage a tech-enabled and diverse workforce? ; How can technology promote wellbeing? ; What will tomorrow's successful workplace culture feel like? ; What does the workplace look like in 2050?