News

The profile of rural employment differs from that in urban areas in some significant respects. Rural businesses tend to be smaller, employ different kinds of staff and are more likely to operate in different parts of the economy to urban businesses.

It is nothing new that in difficult times, public attitudes to migration harden, as migrants are increasingly seen as competing with native workers for limited jobs and public resources. Public attitudes to the recent migration from Eastern Europe have been no exception to this and the UK government has taken this further by considering an annual cap of 75,000 to all EU migration.

Work during study is a common experience for around half of all students. Recent IES research examines this issue in some detail, looking at what motivates students to do this, the kind of work they do, and what they gain from this.

The past five years have been extremely challenging in economic terms in the European Union, with public sector financial constraints and austerity measures having a massive impact on the labour market in many countries. Many individual businesses have been suffering in this climate and have tried to remain competitive by restructuring, usually involving the shedding of labour.

Although there has been a policy focus on addressing under-representation in apprenticeships, particularly by gender,1 over many years, achieving progress on the inclusion of women and ethnic minorities has proved challenging. For example, gender segregation cuts across ethnic and cultural identifies, and ethnicity can compound the impact of occupational gender segregation. We look at the issues, drawing on recent IES research.

There has long been a concern about HR's capability to deliver against its promise of being more business attuned, more strategic in orientation and able to add more value to their organisation and its performance. As business/organisational conditions have become more difficult over the last few years, the delivery challenge has intensified. In particular HR's change management skills are being fully tested. The distinction between what HR, learning and development and OD do has been blurred in the search for greater organisational effectiveness. It is no longer good enough to say that OD does change, learning and development does training and HR manages the exits, there has to be an integrated contribution to enhance people management during these troubled times.

The Statement of Fitness for Work (known as a ‘fit note’), was introduced on 6 April 2010 across England, Wales and Scotland, replacing the previous ‘sick note’. Its aim was to improve communication between individuals, doctors and employers on what a patient could do at work, thereby reducing sickness absence levels.