The REC's future of work commission ask how we can improve the UK's employment rate and look at what the UK jobs market might look like in 2025.
The UK has a resilient jobs market, which adapted to and survived the recession of 2008/09; there are currently a record 32 million people in work (over 3 million more than in 2010), the employment rate is at a record high of 75 per cent, and unemployment is at the lowest since 1975. The UK employment rate is now the fourth highest in the European Union and is 7 percentage points higher than the EU28 average.
The question posed to the REC's Future of jobs commission was: 'How can we improve on this and what do we want the UK jobs market to look like in 2025?'
The world of work is rapidly changing, and many of the jobs being undertaken today will simply not exist in seven years. At the same time, many new jobs are emerging - driven by the advancement of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and robotics. Many of these new jobs will require skills very different from today's requirements.