What can be done to tackle skills inequality and support all workers to have the right skills for the future?

This blog was first published in FE Week on 13 December.

Two recent reports have helped us understand the types of skills we could be lacking in the future, and how we might obtain them.

Tuesday saw the launch of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) second Adult Skills Survey which is part of the Programme of International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIACC).

It was accompanied by a more detailed report, compiled by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), analysing the skills levels of adults in England. On first reading, the findings appear wholly positive.

Overall, adults in England scored above the international average across numeracy, literacy and problem solving, with a significant increase in numeracy scores since the first survey in 2012. In literacy and problem-solving, England is second only to Japan among the G7 countries, and was outperformed only by Japan and Germany in numeracy.

There has also been a significant improvement in literacy and numeracy skills of young adults since 2012. A decade ago, young adults in England performed less well than older workers, bucking the trend seen in other countries. This is a welcome development given the importance of these skills in the labour market.

But the devil is in the detail and the situation slightly more nuanced. While the improvement in average adult numeracy skills is very welcome, it has been driven by an increase in average skills levels among higher achievers, meaning the gap between highest and lowest scoring adults is widening.

The report estimates widening skills inequalities meant 8.5 million working-age adults in England had a low proficiency (achieving a score of below 225 out of 500) in literacy, or numeracy, or both, when the survey was conducted last year.

Eighteen per cent of adults in England were defined as having low proficiency in literacy and 21 per cent in numeracy - a substantial proportion of the population.

These adults are almost certainly more likely to work in ‘high risk’ jobs such administrative, secretarial, sales, cleaning, hospitality and warehouse roles, which are projected to decline in the coming decade.

So what can be done to support these people and ensure they do not struggle to adapt to a changing labour market, or drop out of it entirely? That’s where our second report comes in.

We recently published a Recommendations Report as part of The Skills Imperative 2035, a five-year research programme funded by the Nuffield Foundation.

Based on perspectives and ideas shared by a panel of experts, the report makes a set of recommendations designed to help workers in ‘high-risk’ roles successfully transition into occupations expected to grow by 2035.

Among other things, the report calls on the Government to increase real-terms public investment in adult education and skills, close to early 2010s levels, as well as strengthening the Right to Request Time Off so that people can remain employed while retraining during an unpaid career break.

We ask the Government to simplify and raise awareness of the existing financial support available to workers to retrain and change careers, and for the employers willing to support them, so as to increase uptake by employers and employees.

But what can employers do to help – particularly at a time when they are facing their own financial pressures? We suggest employers should still try to invest more in developing the skills of their own workforces, particularly the skills of workers in declining occupations. Where possible, they should also invest more in management training and continue to strengthen their strategic workforce planning capabilities.

NFER also recommends that education and qualification providers should create training courses and qualifications that are tailored to meet the needs of working adults and enable them, where necessary, to learn whilst working.

Previous reports in the Skills Imperative 2035 have quantified the gravity of the situation, focussing on the essential employment skills (EES) which the country will need in the coming decade: Communication, collaboration, problem-solving, organising, planning and prioritising work, creative thinking and information literacy.

Not only will we need more workers with these EES in the future, as there are projected to be more jobs in the labour market, but we will also need more workers with a higher level of these skills as most of the new jobs will be in professional occupations which utilise them more intensively.

Our projections show we could soon see unprecedented levels of skills shortages, with seven million workers lacking the EES they need to do their jobs in the next decade. We suggest around 12 million people in England work in occupations that are expected to decline by 2035. By the end of the next decade, there could be over a million fewer jobs in these occupations.

More research would be extremely helpful. Understanding the common features of countries which have high skill levels and low inequalities across numeracy, literacy and EES, might allow us to paint a clearer picture of what works.

Allowing skills gaps to widen could lead to the stifling of the country’s productivity and act as a drag on economic growth, while at the same time limiting individuals’ employment and earnings opportunities.

It’s vital that we do all we can to help workers upskill or reskill so they are able to switch to more promising growing careers, such as teaching or healthcare, or simply earn more money in their current line of work.

A shortage of EES, coupled with 8.5 million people who are ‘low proficient’ in literacy, or numeracy or both, means we have a long way to go. Securing the essential skills required for tomorrow’s workforce is a big task, which needs tackling at once.