Author: Martin Allen

Review of Post -18 Education and Funding. First impressions

The Augar report on post-18 learning has been long awaited. The first government sponsored  review of higher education since Robbins, it’s two hundred or so pages were published in the week the Prime Minister who commissioned it resigned and as universities start to wind down, or at least lose their students for the summer. Perhaps … Continue reading Review of Post -18 Education and Funding. First impressions →

Will young people be voting on Thursday?

Traditional relationships between class and voting behaviour are not what they used to be. This week’s Euro-election will, it seems, only confirm this, with Labour desperately trying to unite ‘pro-Brexit’ traditional northern working-class supporters with  recent converts – the more affluent socially progressive but staunchly pro-European voters of London and the south. Despite the excessive … Continue reading Will young people be voting on Thursday? →

Labour’s £10 minimum wage for under 18s could be part of a real ‘new deal’ for young people.

Jeremy Corbyn’s commitment to include under 18s in Labour’s £10 an hour minimum wage  is to be welcomed. As the Labour leader made clear “Equal pay for equal work” is hardly a controversial idea. Under Labour, the hourly pay of workers aged 16 and 17 would more than double. At present, workers under the age … Continue reading Labour’s £10 minimum wage for under 18s could be part of a real ‘new deal’ for young people. →

Can you ever be ‘overeducated’?

New ONS data  shows a third of graduates with more education that is required for the work they were doing 2017. This shouldn’t surprise anybody. Many other studies have reached similar conclusions. What is significant is that rather than focusing on those that have left university in the last few months (many of whom will … Continue reading Can you ever be ‘overeducated’? →

One in twelve jobs at ‘high risk’ from automation

Way back in the 1930s, the economist Keynes raised concerns about what he called ‘technological unemployment’  now referred to as ‘worker displacement’. According to Frey and Osborne’s 2013 Oxford study, as many as 47% of current US jobs are at risk of automation,  while a 2016 OECD study estimated the figure at just 9%. The … Continue reading One in twelve jobs at ‘high risk’ from automation →

Record Employment: but the NEETs are still here

ONS figures published last week show a record number of people working – 32.7 million or 76.1% of the population. At 3.9%, unemployment has hit its lowest level since 1975 while the number of those ‘economically inactive’ - people not looking, or not able to work has also never been lower. But if ‘full-employment’ in … Continue reading Record Employment: but the NEETs are still here →

T-Levels limp on

I've posted previously on T-levels and published widely on the problems and limitations of a 'vocational route' for increasing opportunities for young people. Despite being  reinvented and repackaged every few years,  vocational qualifications have never achieved 'parity' with academic learning and with employment changing and the possibility of swathes of jobs disappearing or being replaced … Continue reading T-Levels limp on →

‘Apprenticeship Week’ but not too much to celebrate?

You could be forgiven for not realising last week was ‘Apprenticeship Week’ - an annual event enabling the apprenticeship industry to promote good practice and celebrate the diversity of opportunities available, the government is also launching a £2 million advertising campaign through TV and social media.   Make no mistake there are some very good … Continue reading ‘Apprenticeship Week’ but not too much to celebrate? →