Disability and Skills in a Changing Economy

Equality and employment is an important and well-researched field. The Youth Inquiry (UK Commission 2011) explored questions around the unemployment, recruitment and employer perspectives of young people. In May 2011, Joseph Rowntree Foundation published Poverty and ethnicity: a review of evidence and launched a fuller programme of in this area.

In order to add value to the existing body of research, the UK Commission developed a series of Briefing Papers with a focus on equality and skills in a changing economy. The aim of the series was to inform and enable connected thinking about how to enable opportunity in the labour market through skills. Each paper provided commentary and analysis for an equality group or theme. These were:

• Disability and skills in a changing economy
• Gender and skills in a changing economy
• Low skills and social disadvantage in a changing economy
• Older people and skills in a changing economy
• Spatial inequality and skills in a changing economy.

The research focussed on policy in England as the development of the papers received England only funding. However, in order to give breadth and strength to understanding of a subject area the review of literature and data drew on UK data and, occasionally, devolved policy, though not in the conclusions or implications.