The Economist asks: What’s the next great leap for education? Anne McElvoy heads to Utah for the Brookings Institution’s Centre for Universal Education Event. With a host of policymakers and researchers, she investigates how educational institutions will adapt to the rise artificial intelligence, and whether the developing world can leap frog itself to outshine education … Continue reading
The federal minimum wage was established in 1938, as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), to help ensure that all work would be fairly rewarded and that regular employment would provide a decent quality of life. In theory, Congress makes periodic amendments to the FLSA to increase the federal minimum wage to ensure … Continue reading
Since 2013, the Union and its Member States have engaged in an ambitious strategy to reduce youth unemployment. Following a proposal from the Commission, all Member States adhered to the establishment of a Youth Guarantee, which is a political commitment, in the form of a Council recommendation of April 2013, to give every young person … Continue reading
The application and adoption of social, mobile, applications, analytics and the cloud (SMAAC) and Internet of Things (IoT) in sectors such as health, manufacturing, natural resources, financial services and government services has created strong demand for highly skilled workers capable of implementing and managing these technologies. However, Canada is experiencing a shortage of skilled ICT … Continue reading
Australian PM Malcolm Turnbulll announced his own “Australians first” labor strategy. The government is abolishing its temporary work visa for skilled employees currently held by 95,000 people, or 1% of the workforce. The 457 visa, which like the American H-1B visa was sponsored by employers, will be replaced by the Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa. … Continue reading
Certain social welfare policies, according to an emerging body of research, may actually encourage more people to work and enable them to do so more productively. That is the conclusion of work that aims to understand in granular detail how different government interventions affect people’s behavior. It amounts to a liberal version of “supply-side economics,” … Continue reading
The registered education savings plan (RESP) investment vehicle is designed to encourage parents of school-age children to save early for their children’s education. This study investigates RESP investments in families, by family income, and subsequent postsecondary enrolment among children in these families. The study finds that among families with children under the age of 18, … Continue reading
The Employment Service-Unemployment Insurance (ES-UI) partnership is rooted in permanent authorizing statutes, an identical fund source, common rules for state administration, and interdependent practices to guard against improper payments and expose claimants to suitable job openings. This partnership is central to the success of the public workforce system. Over the past several decades, USDOL has … Continue reading
Some researchers and policymakers have reasonably worried that generous UI could discourage serious job search and raise workers’ wage demands unrealistically (an instance of what economists call “moral hazard”), thereby slowing the overall labor market recovery. To be clear, most labor economists do not share the worry that unemployment is increased much by UI. But … Continue reading
From Mongolia to Finland to India, we are seeing heightened interest in the idea of a universal basic income (UBI)—an unconditional cash grant given to every citizen, regardless of their employment status or wealth. The idea is controversial, receiving criticism from many quarters including Future Development. To sharpen the debate, it’s useful to distinguish three … Continue reading
Evidence was drawn from the USA, Canada, Australia, Belgium (Flanders), and Sweden. All have skill systems and models of local governance that reflect their unique historical development. But this does not preclude learning lessons from their experiences that can inform the process local areas in England are embarking upon. Enabling effective local working is dependent … Continue reading
Jobs are the number one policy concern of policy makers in many countries. The global financial crisis, rising demographic pressures, high unemployment rates, and concerns over automation all make it seem imperative that policy makers employ increasingly more active labor market policies. This paper critically examines recent evaluations of labor market policies that have provided … Continue reading
The greening of economies through public and private investments in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication will require a mix of macroeconomic, industrial, sectoral, labour market and skills policies. These investments in the formal and informal sector will create and enable sustainable enterprises to prosper. Paying close attention to skills development for the transition to environmentally … Continue reading
A new study conducted by Pew Research Center finds that Americans largely support paid leave, and most supporters say employers, rather than the federal or state government, should cover the costs. Still, the public is sharply divided over whether the government should require employers to provide this benefit or let employers decide for themselves, and … Continue reading
The general direction of skills policy in the UK over the recent past has been to create a market for training in order to improve the degree to which the skills people acquire are matched to those that the economy demands. A recognised weakness of the training market, certainly over the 1990s and early 2000s, … Continue reading