There is little doubt that the world of work is changing more rapidly and dynamically than ever before. The ‘rise of the machines’, the rise of non-standard work and the importance of core employability skills are all changing the face of the labour market across the UK.
But the interesting questions are: do we know what all this means in terms of skills needed for the future, and how can young people be best prepared to enter this labour market and thrive?
To answer these questions it’s important to understand the implications of what’s happening. Will automation wipe out wide swathes of jobs? Is juggling multiple jobs at the same time going to be the new norm? Which sectors will offer the best growth and employment opportunities?
Last year Skills Development Scotland produced a ‘Jobs and Skills in Scotland’ labour market report which looks at what’s happening across Scotland. The current trends have been shaped by the legacy of a deep recession, which has seen sectors such as manufacturing and construction hit hard. Some regions such as Edinburgh, East and Midlothian have weathered the storm better, when employment growth, productivity, earnings and unemployment are considered, but rural areas have been hardest hit.
Since 2012, employment has started to increase again however this has been driven by private sector growth at a time when the public sector is contracting. So, although employment is increasing, the number of full time permanent job opportunities have declined. As a result, there are more people working in part-time, temporary or self-employed roles, and despite improved employment figures, low pay and in-work poverty persist in certain areas.
The report also highlights that automation will continue at pace. Inevitably some roles will become redundant, but new roles will also be created and existing skills can be combined in new ways. Take construction for example; a skilled tradesperson building houses on a construction site could use their skills to build house components off-site in a factory environment.
So where are the opportunities going forward?
SDS produces annual Regional Skills Assessments for Edinburgh, East and Midlothian and the future forecasts highlight employment growth opportunities in areas such as construction; health; professional, scientific and technical roles, wholesale and retail; ICT and Digital. However, numbers are expected to decline in the public sector and manufacturing.
One important point is that some of the skills required for these jobs can cut across traditional sector boundaries. Take the house builder example again. This individual may need to acquire digital skills to programme machinery to make the house components in a factory.
The labour market has now taken an hour glass shape with sustained demand for higher skilled roles, lower skills and elementary roles, but a hollowing out of the mid-skilled centre. This then raises the question of how young people can be supported into and through the labour market when there are fewer opportunities to progress upwards through a hollowed-out centre? What skills will they need to have to make them as competitive as possible in the labour market?
The focus then has got to be around the core or meta skills that young people will need to succeed. SDS has established the Centre forWork Based Learning to look at these issues and has drawn on research to identify seven of these skills; resilience, entrepreneurialism; problem solving; social skills; creativity; manipulating technology and managing complexity. The intention is to establish the value of work based learning in the Scottish education and training system to reduce skills shortages, improving productivity and supporting inclusive economic growth.
In my role as Developing the Young Workforce Board member I am passionate about work based learning and the huge range of benefits that this can offer to young people. During the last 2 years on the Board it has been fantastic to support the successful launch of the ‘Marketplace’ to link school pupils to employers offering a wide range of work based opportunities, and see 7,970 work placement opportunities last year. Its also been great to see the expansion of work based learning opportunities available to young people through current and new apprenticeship pathways.
Employers are now able to take on young people from across 12 Foundation Apprenticeships in areas like Social Services and Healthcare; IT (Software and Hardware); Engineering, Financial Services; Food and Drink etc). There are also 11 Graduate Apprenticeship frameworks which offer young people the opportunity to be in paid employment while they learn. This is in addition to the established Modern Apprenticeship programme which helped 2,726 young people across Edinburgh, East and Midlothian in 2015-16.
In this fast-moving environment, where young people will need to be more agile, work based learning is the key to helping them to be more successful and to best prepare them for the world of work.
