This report looks at the likely future changes in demographics and the labour market, which will set the context for meeting these challenges. Learning, skills and employment services will need to help young people to adapt to these changes.

The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Youth Employment was set up in 2014 with the aims of: promoting youth employment in all its forms and the role of young people within the economy; ensuring young people's voices are heard; highlighting the need for quality opportunities; and sharing best practice. In the UK, the unemployment rate for those aged 16 to 24 has been consistently higher than that of older age groups since comparable records began in 1992. The 2017 Youth Jobs Index identified that nearly 2 million young people between 16-24 spend some time NEET (not in education, employment or training), with 1 in 10 young people (811,000) spending over a year NEET, an increase on the 714,000 young people found in this situation last year., This report focuses on supporting young people furthest from the labour market. The APPG sought to understand: how many young people would be included in this group; what are the main barriers; evidence and examples of working with young people 'hidden' from the official statistics; and what support is most effective in helping young people into education, employment or training. Findings include that: (1) too many young people still face barriers to employment; (2) there is also a concerning number of young people 'hidden' from the official statistics; these are young people who are NEET and not claiming welfare support; (3) new policy and funding models can create perverse implications for social mobility; and (4) young people furthest from the labour market face a number of barriers meaning it can be a struggle to complete programmes with pre-determined markers for achievements. The report makes a number of recommendations to government.

As the European economy recovers and the labour market is tightening, attracting the right talent will become an increasingly important issue for businesses. The supply of labour does not only matter at the micro-level, but the performance of entire economies hinges on the ability of businesses to find the right workers to fill their vacancies. In specific industries, such as the energy sector, and for specific vacancies, like IT-specialists, businesses find it hard to find workers with the right skills and competences. Generally speaking, workers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) are difficult to find. However, there is still an untapped potential on the European labour market, as many European countries are not using the full potential of young people, women and older workers. If these groups would participate on the labour market to their full potential, the European economy could see a major increase in its GDP growth., PwC has constructed a set of indices to map the degree to which countries have managed to make use of the full potential of their workforce through the active participation of women, young workers and workers aged over 55 on the labour market. Several possible measures aimed at further raising these participation rates are discussed.

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) sponsors Independent Task Forces to assess issues of current and critical importance to US foreign policy and provide policymakers with concrete judgments and recommendations. Diverse in backgrounds and perspectives, Task Force members aim to reach a meaningful consensus on policy through private deliberations. Once launched, Task Forces are independent of CFR and solely responsible for the content of their reports. This report focuses on how to rebuild the links among work, opportunity, and economic security for all in the face of accelerating change. It recommends the creation of new work opportunities, better career paths, and higher incomes, while developing a highly skilled and adaptable workforce.

This study, commissioned by the European Parliament's Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the FEMM Committee, attempts to reveal the links between the different factors (access, skills, socio-economic and cultural), which prevent women from having equal access to digital technology. It then suggests ways of dealing with online and offline inequalities to the effect of closing the digital gender gap and improving women's and girls' digital inclusion and future technology-related career paths.

For it's annual CEO survey, PwC conducted 1,293 interviews with CEOs in 85 countries. The findings reveal that CEOs are more optimistic than ever about the prospects for global growth over the next 12 months. Growth is there for the taking – but leaders need to navigate a maze of business threats to get there. Capitalising on these prospects is as much about talent as technology, if not more so. People, not systems, drive innovation and realise its full commercial potential. Artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and new ways of working bring the potential for huge benefits, but they also bring anxiety for employees and threaten societal disruption. People strategy weighs heavily on CEOs' minds. If businesses are to attract the workers they need – and concern about the availability of skills has never been higher – to deliver the best possible performance and productivity from their organisation, they need to have trust on their side.

This report, "The Strategic Integration of Skills and Innovation Policy in Northern Ireland: an international small economy perspective", describes the way in which skills and innovation policy in small advanced economies is designed, and in particular the way in which skills and innovation policy is integrated. It draws on this international small economy experience to identify a series of policy implications for Northern Ireland.

The skills system will be crucial to meeting the challenges and changes facing Northern Ireland in the coming years. The skills system includes the full range of post-16 education, learning and training, including schools, colleges, apprenticeships, in-work training and university. For the purposes of this report, the focus has been on post-school, sub-degree learning. This can often be delivered in colleges, by private training providers (both for and not for profit) and by employers themselves. This research sets out the context in which the skills system in Northern Ireland operates, and attempts to outline the challenges this system faces., It examines: (1) economic factors which determine the context for the skills system, looking at issues like economic performance, labour market trends and the skills in the workforce; (2) the policy context that has shaped the skills system in Northern Ireland, turning to cross-cutting, government-wide policies and those particular to the skills system; (3) the structure of the skills system, and how learning is organised and institutionalised; (4) looming challenges facing the skills system, and indeed Northern Ireland more generally, including automation, the changing nature of globalisation, demographic change across the UK and Brexit. The report concludes by outlining key insights in relation to the skills system, highlighting the key opportunities and challenges facing the skills system in Northern Ireland and to which it needs to respond.

The UK has a gender pay gap: within industries, within occupations, and within organisations, women tend to earn less per hour than men. A small proportion of this gap may be the result of unequal pay for the same work within a firm - which is illegal on the grounds of gender and other protected characteristics - but the majority is a consequence of the sort of jobs that women do, their level of seniority, and the impact of having children on their career choice and progression.