The World Economic Forum's September 2024 Chief Economists Outlook report reveals that while the short-term outlook for the global economy has begun to stabilise, many vulnerabilities remain. Chief among the current sources of uncertainty is the US presidential election in November, with 80% of chief economists agreeing the election result will have a significant impact on economic policy globally. Against a backdrop of heightened superpower tensions between the US and China, geopolitical and geoeconomic risks are also increasing. The research identifies two main obstacles to making progress on more balanced growth: a lack of political consensus and a lack of global collaboration undermined both by domestic political trends and by geopolitical tensions.
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Global Dynamic & Politics
This report by the Work Foundation investigates how quality of work contributes to long-term employment outcomes, revealing that more than four in ten insecure workers (44%) have fallen into ‘long-term insecurity’ over a four-year period, presenting a direct challenge to the previous government’s approach that assumed any job will help them progress into secure and sustained employment. The research findings indicate that individuals’ difficulties in progressing from insecure to secure employment have persisted, suggesting that the ‘insecure work trap’ is a deeply ingrained issue within the labour market – and not merely a consequence of the pandemic’s unique challenges.
The CIPD's latest quarterly Labour Market Outlook report reveals that hard-to-fill vacancies remain prevalent - among employers surveyed, 37% have hard-to-fill vacancies. The research finds that employers are increasingly looking at ways to improve job quality, possibly to mitigate the impact of higher workloads. It recommends that employers consider the different aspects of work that will improve the employee experience, including autonomy, career progression, training, voice and work-life balance.
The International Labour Organisation's 20th Global Employment Trends for Youth report reveals that continuing high rates of 15- to-24-year-olds who are not in employment, education or training, and insufficient growth of decent jobs are causing anxiety among today's youth, who are also the most educated youth cohort ever. This year's report also looks back at what has been achieved in this century to improve young people's working prospects and considers the future for youth employment in an era characterised by crises and uncertainties. Looking at longer-term trends, it concludes that there are not enough high-skilled jobs for the supply of educated youth and highlights that keeping skills development on pace with developing demands for green and digital skills will be critical to reducing education mismatches.
This report from Deloitte reveals that around one in three young people feel only neutral or feel negative about their work. It identifies that this sentiment reflects the key challenges young people are experiencing at work, including a lack of fair and reasonable pay, lack of opportunities to build skills and experience, and a lack of flexible working hours. The research and insights uncover three critical opportunities that must be unlocked to enable and accelerate ‘meaningful work’ for young people, and these opportunities are critical in driving benefits such as greater health and well-being, stronger skills and increased employability, and progress toward equity and increasing belonging.
The latest OECD Employment Outlook report reveals that employment has increased to a record high since the pandemic but warns that the transition to net zero emissions by 2050 will lead to significant shifts in labour markets from high-emission industries towards new opportunities in green-driven jobs. The report suggests that the move towards emerging green-driven occupations will be more challenging for workers in low skilled positions than for the high-skilled, and calls for urgent policy action to ensure that no one is left behind by the net-zero transition.
BCG’s latest Decoding Global Talent report explores five key questions to understand what workers care about and how employers can meet the evolving expectations of the workforce to gain a critical advantage in attracting and retaining talent in a highly mobile labour market. The research reveals that what matters at work is shifting, with job security emerging as the number one work priority for the first time since 2014. This is attributed to workers’ concerns about their long-term employability, finding a connection between a desire for job security and increased awareness of technological disruption. With GenAI affecting diverse workforces and impacting not just repetitive tasks but also creative and conceptual work, other attributes such as opportunities for learning and career development, financial compensation, and other benefits have also risen in the rankings.
Gallup’s latest report estimates that low employee engagement costs the global economy US$8.9 trillion, or 9% of global GDP and examines what leaders can do to improve the health and productivity of the world’s workforce. The report explores the relationship between employee engagement and a range of key business outcomes, finding that high-engagement business units are likely to see significantly higher employee wellbeing – as well as higher productivity, profitability and sales – than low-engagement teams.
The World Economic Forum’s latest Global Gender Gap Index benchmarks gender parity across 146 countries, revealing that while no country has achieved full gender parity, 97% of economies have closed more than 60% of their gap, compared to 85% in 2006. However, compared against last year, the global gender gap has been closed by +.1 percentage point, from 68.5% to 68.6%. The report suggests that the lack of meaningful, widespread change effectively slows down the rate of progress to attain parity. Based on current data, it will take 134 years to reach full parity – roughly five generations beyond the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target.
Mercer’s 2024 People Risk report examines the key workforce threats facing employers according to five pillars of risk – technological change and disruption; talent, leadership and workforce practices; health, well-being and safety; governance, compliance and financial; and environment, sustainability and protection – and assesses the impact they can have on an organisation as well as recommending practical approaches to addressing critical risks.