UK Employer Skills Survey 2011 - first findings report

The UK Commission for Employment and Skills has published First Findings from the first ever UK-wide employer skills survey. Over 87,500 employers from England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland were interviewed as part of the project.

This ambitious project has brought together the four surveys on skills deficiencies and training that were previously carried out separately in each constituent nation and represents a significant achievement technically. Compared to the previous surveys run in the nations, this survey includes all establishments with the exception of sole traders, which is a wider population. The survey will enable us to:

• Compare sectors and occupations within the UK
• Analyse across the entire UK on a comparable basis
• Recreate the data on a basis that allows time series analysis in the constituent nations

The First Findings Report provides a first glance at the statistics emerging from the project, but a fuller Main Report will follow in spring 2012 once there has been time to scratch beneath the surface of the data. The First Findings presents only information at the UK level, and does not breakdown information to the level of constituent nations. This will occur in the fuller analysis to follow in 2012. All figures in the report are subject to adjustment as we review and refine our analysis.

Key issues emerging from the report include:

1. Total UK employer expenditure on training is estimated at £49bn over the 12 months before the 2011 UK Employer Skills Survey. This is the first time that such a detailed estimate of UK-wide training expenditure has been calculated. Please note that previously only the surveys in England and Northern Ireland had calculated a total training expenditure figure. For the reasons given above the figure is not comparable with the 2009 NESS¹  figure in England.
2. A quarter of all establishments had trained staff towards nationally recognised qualifications in the 12 months prior to the survey. This illustrates that a minority of employers are currently engaged with the established qualifications system and highlights the importance of engaging employers more actively in driving the development of qualifications, so that one single market for training and development is created. For more on this issue see our paper on Employer Ownership.
3. It is notable that amongst the sectors where more money is spent on training relative to the number of establishments that train in the sector, several have a high prevalence of occupational regulation. Transport and Storage, Public Administration, Education and Health and Social work are examples. This reflects the rising prevalence of occupational regulation, which is explored from the perspective of its impact on training in one of our recent evidence reports.
4. Whilst only pockets of the economy experience skills deficiencies, where they are felt they have an impact on the ability of establishments to function (62 per cent report some impact). Nearly half (48 per cent) of establishments with skill gaps report that it leads to increased workload for other staff, whilst 83 per cent of employers experiencing hard-to-fill vacancies found this to be a problem. Nearly a half of businesses with hard-to-fill vacancies found it difficult to meet customer service objectives; to develop products or services, or that it led to a loss of business orders.

¹NESS is the National Employer Skills Survey, which was the name of the employer skills survey previously run in England.

First Findings from the 2011 UK Employer Skills Survey by David Vivian, Mark Winterbotham, Jan Shury and Ben Davies (IFF Research) (PDF 26pp)
Published December 2011 ISBN 9-781-90659-797-9

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‘I remember thinking, why isn’t there someone to help me? …

Why isn’t there someone who can help me make sense of what I’m going through?’
‘Instant adulthood’ and the transition of young people out of state care

 an article by Ruth Rogers (Canterbury Christ Church University) published in Journal of Sociology Volume 47 Number 4 (December 2011)

Abstract

Recent years have seen a shift away from youth transitions being understood as a linear progression towards conventional goals. Instead, it is now argued that youth transitions tend to be highly chaotic, often involving non-linear and fragmented movement between dependence and independence.

This article discusses how young people leaving the state care system are seldom afforded the luxury of a more gradual and non-linear transition. Instead, for them, the possibilities of adult futures remain marked by chronic and continuing exclusion as they move abruptly into ‘instant adulthood’, with no opportunity to return to the child welfare system should they find themselves unable to make it on their own.

Drawing from findings of 30 in-depth interviews with young care leavers, social workers and further and higher education institutions in the UK, the article considers the experiences of young people leaving state care, including their perceived lack of ‘care’, and the importance they place on unconditional and emotional support and contact.

Hazel’s comment:
This is, I believe, an important point to remember when providing career guidance to young people. It was certainly evident with the adults I advised as an employment adviser that those with a chequered history in childhood were more difficult to place in adulthood – even when vacancies were comparatively plentiful.

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Privacy issues could stymie government’s web plans

a short piece by Tim Buckley Owen published in Information World Review Issue 267 (September/October 2011)

You can find it here surrounding the picture of Geraldine van Bueren, Equalities Commission member, who is quoted as saying: “the state is holding increasing amounts of information about our lives without us ... being able to check that it’s accurate or to challenge this effectively.”

Additionally, the way government manages data is “deeply flawed” – while an audit of public sector websites reveals that most organisations haven’t a clue how many cookies they use.

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Ambition Gone Awry: …

The Long-Term Socioeconomic Consequences of Misaligned and Uncertain Ambitions in Adolescence

an article by Ricardo Sabates (University of Sussex), Angel L. Harris (Princeton University) and Jeremy Staff (The Pennsylvania State University) published in Social Science Quarterly Volume 92 Issue 4 (December 2011)

Abstract

Objective
The objective of this study was to investigate whether misaligned or uncertain ambitions in adolescence influence the process of socioeconomic attainment.


Methods
Using 34 years of longitudinal data from the British Cohort Study (BCS70), we considered whether youth with

1. misaligned ambitions (i.e., those who either over- or underestimate the level of education required for their desired occupation), 
2. both low occupational aspirations and educational expectations (low-aligned ambitions), and 
3. uncertainty with regard to their future occupations (uncertain ambitions) at age 16

experienced more unemployment spells, lower educational attainment, and lower hourly wages in adulthood compared to youth with high occupational aspirations and educational expectations (high-aligned ambitions).

Results
Youth who hold misaligned or uncertain aspirations show long-term deficits in employment stability and educational attainment, which in turn leads to lower wage attainments at age 34.

Conclusion
Misaligned and uncertain ambitions in adolescence compromise the construction of life paths and the realization of long-term educational and occupational goals.

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Immigrants

New from Eurostat is Migrants in Europe – A statistical portrait of the first and second generation.

The 155-page publication “looks at a broad range of characteristics of migrants living in the European Union and EFTA countries. It looks separately at the foreign-born, the foreign citizens, and the second generation. It addresses a variety of aspects of the socio-economic situation of migrants including labour market situation, income distribution, and poverty. The effects of different migration-related factors (i.e. reason of migration, length of residence) are examined.”

One of its revelations is that one in three foreign-born people aged 25 to 54 are overqualified for their jobs, compared to one in five native-born.

Press Release 180/2011

Publication page

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GDP per capita varied by more than six to one across the EU in 2010: …

Consumption and price levels differed by more than three to one

As in previous years, Bulgaria remains the country with the lowest level of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita among all EU Member States, at less than half the EU average. The Netherlands was 33 percent above that average, surpassed only by Luxembourg. Levels of Actual Individual Consumption (AIC) were somewhat more homogeneous, but still showed very substantial differences across EU Member States. The country with the highest price level remains Denmark.

Full report Issue number 64/2011 via Eurostat Statistics in focus (PDF 8pp)

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Lifelong Learning, Equality and Social Cohesion

an article by Andy Green published in European Journal of Education Volume 46 Number 2 (June 2011)

Abstract

This article compares the evidence from the 2009 PISA survey on the distribution of skills amongst 15-year-olds in different regions and country groups and explores how education systems in these regions contribute to different levels of inequality. In the second part, it presents evidence from surveys on adult skills and attitudes on how skills inequality affects social attitudes and social cohesion.

Hazel’s comment:
Access to this article, as with all those published under the Wiley Online Library banner, is through your institutional subscription, if there is one, or Wiley's Pay-Per-View service. This is the equivalent of Cambridge Journals Rent-an-article in that you purchase 24-hour access in order to read an article. 
This article is here Pay-Per-View but note that no price is given.

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