The authors of this report came together in the months after the 2016 election to develop a plan of action. We convened a group of scholars - half right-leaning, half left-leaning - then spent a year considering the causes of working-class distress and debating policy solutions. We have produced a set of recommendations that we hope Democrats and Republicans will come together to enact in Congress, arresting the decline in working-class communities and building bridges back to opportunity in the American mainstream., Our report begins with description: who makes up the working class, where do they live, how much education do they have, do they work, at what kinds of jobs, what do they earn, how much do they own? We also trace their growing problems - declining labor force participation, slumping marriage rates, single-parent families, opioid deaths - and map them. The three chapters that follow contain our proposed solutions: ideas about creating jobs, increasing wages, drawing workers back into the labor force, revamping education and job training, bolstering communities and strengthening families. The final chapter points a way forward.

This publication reports the findings from a combined quantitative and qualitative study of Australian working women, aged under 40. It draws together four separate data sources: a nationally representative online survey of (n=2,109) working women under 40; a smaller comparative survey of (n=502) working men under 40; additional boosted survey sample among (n=53) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander working women aged under 40; and the findings from five focus groups of (n=41) working women under 40. Quantitative fieldwork was conducted between September and October, while qualitative fieldwork was conducted in November 2017., At the time of being surveyed: over half of the women in the sample (55 per cent) were working full-time or part-time for an employer, a fifth (19 per cent) were working on a casual, freelance or short-term contract basis and 6 per cent were self-employed. Half of the women (55 per cent) were working in the private sector, 28 per cent in the public sector and 6 per cent for not-for-profit organisations. Over half (56 per cent) were working in four industry sectors: retail trade, healthcare and social assistance, education and training, and accommodation and food services. A sample profile is included at the end of the Methodology section (Section 2)., Findings are presented about: Working life; Workforce skills and training; Job security and working; Work and home; Management and communications; Equality; and Aspirations.

By 2030 the job market will look dramatically different. Previous Nesta research has predicted that about 10 per cent of workers are in occupations that are likely to grow as a share of the workforce and 20 per cent will shrink. As for the remaining jobs, their outlook is more uncertain. Although unsettling, this disruption needn't be disastrous for the workforce. There is an opportunity for employees in uncertain or shrinking occupations to improve their prospects by investing in the right skills. Policymakers consider digital skills to be a top priority for investment. They are seen as offering people greater employability and job resilience. But are all digital skills created equal?, Our analysis shows that not all digital skills will be equally important in the future. In fact, occupations which we are more certain will have poor prospects, are more likely to require a digital skill than the occupations that are most likely to grow by 2030. This is because the relationship between the digital intensity of an occupation and its potential for growth is not straightforward: there are occupations that are currently not digitally intensive, but are expected to grow in the next 10-15 years, as varied as teachers and chefs. The type of digital skills needed in a job also makes a difference: the digital skills most likely to be needed in growing occupations are ones that are used in non-routine tasks, problem-solving and the creation of digital outputs.

Leaders of businesses and organizations have the power to close the gender gap in career advancement and pay. The research shows that creating a culture of equality unlocks human potential and uncovers the key drivers of a workplace culture in which everyone can advance and thrive. Accenture is measuring people's perceptions and experiences of their workplaces. This extensive research and analysis has allowed us to identify the factors that can foster a culture of equality. As a result, this report helps leaders define and implement strategies that can make a tangible difference. Accenture's new research builds on our previous Getting to Equal studies about the positive impact of digital fluency and technology on advancement. We surveyed more than 22,000 working men and women with a university education in 34 countries to measure their perception of factors that contribute to the culture in which they work. Out of more than 200 personal and workplace factors - such as policies, behaviors and collective opinions of employees - we identified 40 that are statistically shown to influence advancement, including 14 that are most likely to effect change. We found that when these factors are most common, women are four times more likely to reach senior manager and director levels. If all organizations were to create the environments in which these 40 factors are most common, the results could be astonishing.

As the pace of technological change accelerates, so does the technology-driven evolution of jobs and skills. Fortunately, technology also offers ways to enhance our understanding of that evolution. With online postings now the primary means for advertising jobs, we have a rich trove of digital data that provides an unprecedented opportunity to understand how the world of work is changing. In this report, we examine job market trends as reflected in millions of online job postings in the US - collected by Burning Glass Technologies - over the three-year period from 2015 through 2018.Although the data covers the US market only, the size and diversity of the US population and economy are a reasonable proxy for global trends. By analyzing the number and growth rate of these listings year over year, we were able to get a picture of the trends in job postings across broad sectors and within specific job areas. A look at the skills that these jobs require provides a more detailed view of changes in the nature of work. We therefore looked at the skills listed in job postings, classifying them in the same way that we classified jobs.

This report studies the career advancement prospects of people entering middle-skill jobs through the analysis of nearly four million resumes of middle-skill jobseekers. It highlights the types of occupations that offer the strongest opportunities for financial stability and true economic advancement. The research finds that, contrary to conventional wisdom, different middle-skill jobs offer considerable differences in advancement potential and financial stability., Jobs for the Future (JFF) and Burning Glass developed a new way of classifying and comparing the advancement potential of middle-skill work called the Opportunity Framework. The framework identifies three categories of entry-level jobs that provide completely different levels of career potential: lifetime jobs, springboard jobs, and static jobs. The first part of the report sets up the framework by describing five years in the careers of the fictional characters created for the report. The next part discusses each type of job in the Opportunity Framework in depth (lifetime, springboard, and static) using the characters to illustrate the impact of education and training decisions on real people. It incorporates discussion of door-opening and career-advancing credentials, as well as the skills that lead to advancement. In the final section, the authors recommend how education and workforce development leaders and policymakers can improve career training to increase economic advancement in the US, especially for low-income people and others under-served by existing systems.

The Warwick Institute forEmployment Research (IER) was commissioned by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to conduct an evidence review and produce an evidence brief to support the work of the Digital Skills and Inclusion Research Working Group. The Group has been convened by the DCMS to support policy making and the implementation of the digital skills and inclusion chapter of the UK Digital Strategy. The aim of the evidence brief is to collate the evidence as comprehensively and systematically as possible to address the policy question: What digital skills do adults need to succeed in the workplace now and in the next ten years?, The brief outlines current definitions of general digital skills and highlights the current and possible future digital skills and competencies likely to be valued by the labour market. Three case study sectors - health and social care, culture and creative industries and financial services - are considered in light of current digital skill needs and developing digital skill requirements. Evidence about the future demand for general digital skills for work points at the increasing importance of 21st century skills, particularly interpersonal skills and 'cognitive competencies and learning strategies'. It is also argued that occupations where workers use digital skills creatively and to solve problems, such as engineering, are likely to grow, while occupations where digital skills are used for routine tasks, as in some HR occupations, are likely to decline. The key argument emerging from the literature is that a narrow focus on digital skills is not sufficient: technical digital skills are likely to soon become obsolete, and workers instead need non-technical, 21st century skills along with solid literacy and numeracy skills to be able to adapt to fast-changing technologies.

Living a long life can bring great rewards, but our stretching lifespans also bring new concerns: Careers are getting longer but the shelf life of acquired skills is getting shorter. Employers who fail to welcome and engage a broad spectrum of workers, encourage their training, and manage alternative working arrangements risk being left behind in the market. These are some of the emerging issues highlighted in the Deloitte European Workforce Survey, as described in the report Voice of the workforce in Europe. The survey’s aim was to broadcast Europe’s ’voice of the workforce’, examining workers’ attitudes and views to see how closely they match the real picture.

Immigrants make up one out of six workers in the United States. They are an often overlooked but vital part of local economies and should be a part of local workforce development strategies. This report examines the size and characteristics of the immigrant workforce and explores key strategies that organizations in three cities are using to support training this population. We use recent census data to provide a demographic profile of the immigrant workforce with national- and metropolitan-level statistics for the largest 100 metropolitan regions, with a focus on lower- and middle-skilled job holders. We share insights collected through interviews with service providers and stakeholders in Dallas, Miami, and Seattle to better understand the barriers to training for this population and the experiences of organizations serving immigrant communities. The report offers recommendations for policymakers, service and training providers, funders, and employers.