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As the UK continues to heat up, so too has the conversation around the future of work. June saw this government’s first multi-year spending review and the launch of its highly anticipated Industrial Strategy; both showing a welcome emphasis on longer-term investment in infrastructure and growth, as well as on building the conditions for good work across the UK.
We are looking ahead to two new publications this month; our first report with the EY Foundation (EYF) on 9 July on intrinsic motivation, as detailed in our Deep Dive below, and this year’s edition of the Good Work Monitor on 15 July, our interactive report which tracks trends in access to good work across local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales.
This year’s edition of the Good Work Monitor includes a productivity analysis, reflecting the growing importance of productivity across this government’s missions. The Good Work Monitor Time Series points to deepening regional inequalities with regards to the creation of good work and access to it. It draws on the latest available data to explore trends across six dimensions of good work and proposes recommendations to ensure good work remains a strategic, cross-cutting policy priority - thus ensuring a society in which all can flourish.
We are also delighted to welcome four research assistants joining us for the summer months, Marley Bartlett from the University of Sussex, and Orsolya Dobe, Julian Kulikowski and Maria Starling from the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. We look forward to all they will bring and contribute to our ongoing research projects at IFOW.
Anna and IFOW Team
IFOW has been partnering with the EY Foundation (EYF) on a project exploring how young people from low-income backgrounds can better thrive in a rapidly changing world of work. We are excited to be publishing the first findings from this groundbreaking study as part of Youth Employment Week next week. Springing from findings in our Pissarides Review and EYF’s report on AI and Social Mobility, we wanted to drill down into how the experience of having a low-income background might be interacting with different forms of motivation, and how these together could be impacting access to work in a labour market where AI and automation are raising the demand for more creativity, problem-solving and intrinsic forms of motivation.
To investigate this, we did a survey of the literature on motivation – and found a big gap in research in this specific area. To begin to fill this gap, we designed an action-research workshop for young people and took that to schools in Cornwall, Bournemouth, Birmingham, Oldham and Preston.
Our findings – soon to be published in our report, 'Motivating Futures', are now informing the design of an intervention that will be deployed and tested in groups of young people to explore how they can be guided towards intrinsic and internalised motivation, with the hope that this can be disseminated and integrated into a national programme.
Think of the people! IFOW and CIPD workshop
The IFOW team attended Innovate UK’s BridgeAI showcase on 16 June, which brought together business leaders, AI innovators, and government officials to explore new projects around AI innovation. IFOW ran an interactive workshop with colleagues from CIPD and The Alan Turing Institute exploring how organisations can get the most out of their AI investments by focusing on the people impacted by AI adoption and implementation.
Our ongoing action research project with CIPD aims to understand the areas of HR, organisation strategy, and people development practice crucial to successful AI implementation at work. It addresses a critical need in the AI adoption landscape, highlighting the human element and organisational dynamics essential for responsible innovation.
Forum on GenAI and the Novel
Dr Clementine Collett, a BRAID UK research fellow at the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy (MCTD), working in partnership with IFOW, hosted the ‘Forum on Generative AI and the Novel’ last Friday 27 June in Cambridge. This gathered together over 30 exceptional stakeholders from diverse backgrounds and professions to discuss the profound changes that GenAI is posing to novelists and the publishing industry. In the room there were novelists, publishers, literary agents, writers’ and publishers’ societies, trade unions, representatives from government, lawyers, and academics.
The Forum aimed to foster dialogue amongst these diverse groups, with the hope of encouraging the stakeholders to listen to each other’s points of view, identify the key areas of tension and synergy, and reflect upon the ways these stakeholders might work together or learn from each other going forward in order to help protect our outstanding creative industries in the UK. Topics such as copyright and licensing, creativity and imagination, and the impact of AI on creative work were discussed. Read more about the Forum in this article in The Bookseller.
Eight sectors, one story: The geography of the Industrial Strategy
This new report from Centre for Cities maps the government’s flagship “IS-8” sectors outlined in the Industrial Strategy, using firm-level data from The Data City. The paper finds that these sectors are highly concentrated in urban centres, and in particular, the Greater South East. Creative Industries is the most city-focused of the sectors, with nearly 4 in 5 firms located in urban areas. The report warns that the ‘sector-first’ approach taken by the Industrial Strategy risks ignoring the importance of place in stimulating these key industries.
The power of place: The role of place in driving regional pay inequalities
New research from the Resolution Foundation, drawing on the Longitudinal Educational Outcomes (LEO) dataset, has found that with regards to pay inequalities, place is more important than previously thought. Even after accounting for people’s changing characteristics, the report found that one-third of the pay differences between labour markets stem from places themselves, rather than the people within them. The report explores the policy implications too, suggesting there are aggregate gains to be had from ensuring more workers are within reach of the best jobs.
Triple disadvantage for workers from lower socioeconomic backgrounds
Research from Queen Mary University of London and the Institute for Employment Studies, analysing data from 3336 people in higher managerial and professional roles in the UK between 2021 and 2023 found that those from lower socio-economic backgrounds scored consistently lower on key indicators of job quality, including promotion prospects, job complexity, workload, and relationships with managers and colleagues – even though they tend to gravitate towards careers that usually have better job quality. The research also found that even within the same profession, job quality was consistently poorer for those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
Economics to improve lives, Thursday 3 July, London
PBE’s upcoming morning conference will bring together leaders from economics, civil society, policy and media to discuss how progress might be measured beyond traditional GDP – using approaches that better reflect lived realities and respond to contemporary challenges. The conference will mark the launch of PBE’s second annual wellbeing report, highlighting the scale and drivers of low wellbeing in the UK, and exploring how trends may evolve to 2030 and beyond. Further details can be found on PBE’s website.
London Data Week, 7 July - 13 July
The third edition of London Data Week returns with a full programme of workshops, panel discussions, and interactive sessions exploring how data can be used to tackle the challenges facing London today. London Data Week will create a space of dialogue and collaboration for the organisations, community groups and public institutions already using data to drive changes – across areas such as AI, public health, technology innovation and governance. Details of all events are listed on the London Data Week website.
AI, Creative Expression & Skills: Forging new pathways together, Wednesday 23 July
Arts Council England and TechUK are hosting an afternoon event for those working in and around technology development and deployment for creative practitioners, as well as creative professionals. Keynote sessions and panel discussions will explore the evolving AI landscape and its intersection with the creative sector, as well as the current practices and skills driving the responsible integration of AI within creative processes. Further information and booking on TechUK’s website.
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