Employee Demand for Skills: A Review of Evidence and Policy (Executive Summary)

Abstract

This report presents the results of a detailed review of evidence and policy relating to the factors that influence the engagement of the individual in skills development. It incorporates a broad range of formal and informal learning activities, delivered in a range of institutional settings and through different media. The review is deliberately broad in its focus, drawing on evidence and policy relating to people in different positions within the labour market. However, a key focus for the research was the barriers and factors affecting access to skills development opportunities among lower skilled and lower qualified people. The review was undertaken by WM Enterprise and the Employment Research Institute, Edinburgh Napier University for the UK Commission for Employment and Skills.