How am I supposed to sleep after that? Rarely been so happy to have a day off ahead. Phew! So well done to them all.

Our #EmpSkills26 convention is kicking off in Manchester! 🐝 Thank you to all our speakers and our sponsors @maxuknews.bsky.social @edgeuk.bsky.social @ingeusuk.bsky.social Youth Futures Foundation and City & Guilds for supporting the event. Head over to LinkedIn to see our updates through the day!

Why do UK firms hesitate to invest? New TPI research shows managers are ambitious, but risk averse, with informal decision-making slowing action. Find out more by reading the blog on our website: www.productivity.ac.uk/news/british... 1/4

Always enjoy @soumayakeynes.ft.com Economics Show, but latest episode with AI minister was particularly great. A minister who seems (maybe it’s my lack of AI knowledge being fooled!) to know what he’s talking about & genuinely engage in discussion & answer q’s. More please!

On my way, looking forward to this. Downside: long train journey. Upside: I’ve found an unopened bag of Haribo in my bag. (It’s no longer unopened).

Just finished @sarahoconnorft.ft.com excellent We Are Not Machines. Great stories of how tech is changing work, how this depends on institutions & choices, and what this means for the choices (and there are choices) we now make. Strong recommend.

New charts off the production line for testing (formatting to be improved). On Centre for Cities definition of primary urban areas) here's 2025 employment rates. Bubbles = size of population. Can see the dispersion (note, axis doesn't start at 0). Not many above Govt's 80% employment rate target.

A few thoughts on Andy Burnham talking about devo & NEETs. First, funding. Most MSAs in England already have Adult Skills Fund, but it's been frozen in cash terms & comes with strings attached. Apprenticeship funding generally seen as employers - what scope here? 16-19? Complicated!

such a cool chart. The UK just has no highly-productive mid-sized cities... look at the gap in the middle of the orange bubbles

🥵Why are so many Europeans/Britons unnecessarily sweating through a heatwave without cooling? Why are portable AC units so crap? The answers are both interesting and maddening. My latest on air conditioning👇 edconway.substack.com/p/the-missin...

Have a look at this chart showing % of young people doing apprenticeships. It's gone from low to very low. The Govt's right to say it wants to 'pivot' the system more toward them (up to age 24, this chart is 16-17). But will need to do more.

In @timeshighered.bsky.social, L&W chief exec @stephenevans.bsky.social comments on progress made by Skills England so far in addressing skills needs. ⬇️🗞️

Lovely day in (an air conditioned room in) Cardiff for @learnworkcymru.bsky.social Adult Learning Conference. Including hearing from some of our Inspire! & tutor award winners. adultlearnersweek.wales/award-winners/

[Wrong site for this, but hey! There may be some takers.] Right-Wing Archetype Quiz. Are you a Free Marketeer? Libertarian? Social Conservative? Nativist? Traditionalist? Take this political compass-style quiz to find out your right-wing archetype profile. open.substack.com/pub/edrith/p...

Great opportunity. This is very good & interesting to see. Please do circulate.

Good news! ‘Plug-in’ solar panels costing just hundreds of pounds are poised to go on sale within months after a review found they were safe to use in the UK archive.is/eZ8Q8

Other things may grab more media attention today. But remarkably July's labour market stats will be even less reliable than normal because the ONS allocated researchers to the wrong survey & didn't spot it! There's a vacancy for PM, but also we haven't had a National Statistician for a year I think.

New study: Britain spends a third more on transport infrastructure than its peers, but because of high construction costs ends up with a fifth less. The UK spends £1.65 to get what £1 buys in France, Germany and Spain. (1/N) www.britainremade.co.uk/moreforless

Only 11% of UK businesses intend to increase investment in the near term. Yet, few firms cite access to finance or inadequate returns as a reason. Read our @productivity.bsky.social research on how UK managers' attitudes may be constraining profitable investment: bit.ly/4atmsvu #dataisbeautiful

Super useful & interesting for everyone working on qualitative research & thinking about the role of AI in it.

"Following the Milburn Review this further confirms the need for urgent action to support young people who are not in education, employment or training." ✍️ L&W chief exec @stephenevans.bsky.social responds to today's labour market statistics from ONS.

1. Labour market is fairly flat overall, with some falls in employment and vacancies. But worrying below the headlines. 220k fewer people work in retail & hospitality than 2 years ago, contrasting to rise of 90k in health and social work.

Right, I’m in again. It’s probably not coming home (60 years of hurt, for the men’s team). But you never know. youtu.be/RJqimlFcJsM?...

Nominations are now open for the Mayor of London Adult Learning Awards 2026! 🏆 For the fifth year running, we are thrilled to be supporting the Greater London Authority in delivering these awards. Submit your nomination by Friday 24 July: www.london.gov.uk/london-adult...

Fantastic piece this. So many maddening bits where you go 'there's a really easy solve here!'

What should be our key takeaways from the Multiply programme? ✍️ In a new piece for @feweek.bsky.social, L&W deputy director @lwalexs.bsky.social explores lessons from Multiply and why engaging adults in learning is so important.

New stats seems to show the Government's Connect to Work programme, to help disabled people into work, has only helped half as many people as it expected in January. Decent results for those on it, but there's not enough on it. I say seems to, as it's so far off maybe I'm wrong. But I can't see how.

The broken ladder: AI, remote work, and early-career hiring By Peter John Lambert and Yannick Schindler Read at: https://ow.ly/aQAj50Z9YEV

New stats seems to show the Government's Connect to Work programme, to help disabled people into work, has only helped half as many people as it expected in January. Decent results for those on it, but there's not enough on it. I say seems to, as it's so far off maybe I'm wrong. But I can't see how.

One way of measuring UK productivity shows a remarkable upturn since Labour came to office.... ... so is the UK witnessing a productivity revival? www.ft.com/content/161a...

🚀 This #CarersWeek, we’ve launched a NEW toolkit to bridge the gap between national policy and everyday support, giving colleges a clear framework to effectively support young adult carers in FE. Explore the toolkit: 🔗 learningandwork.org.uk/cy/work/disc...

NEW: #JobsPlus has shown promise reaching social housing residents who are out of work but do not typically access mainstream support. 🔍 New evaluation findings led by @employmentstudies.bsky.social have now been published. Read coverage in @theguardian.com: www.theguardian.com/society/2026... 🗞️

Treasure trove of data on Skills & Employment Survey, now all uploaded to UK data service. E.g. 75% of people think their job adds some kind of value, 5% don't. Big growth in use of AI. Hybrid working here to stay. Worth checking out & useful corrective to often negative vibe about world of work!

How do we build carer friendly communities? 💡 That's the theme of #CarersWeek 2026. But what does this mean within learning and work? With @carerstrust.bsky.social, we've called for young adult carers to be exempt from the 21 hour rule that can restrict their access to education. ⬇️

We were pleased to contribute to this POSTnote on lifelong learning and skills – looking at opportunities, challenges and wider impacts of learning. ⬇️ And its great to see lots of our research cited. 📑

This is shaping up very nicely indeed!

Really looking forward to reading this!

NEW: Multiply Randomised Control Trials present evidence on what interventions work in improving adult numeracy. ✅ L&W was pleased to work with @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social and partners on the trials as part of Multiply, the Government's programme for improving adult numeracy between 2022 and 2025.

Latest example that higher apprenticeships can be a social mobility route into professions but to achieve that you need to widen access. 90% of social work degree apprentices already worked for their employer, 42% already had a L6+ qual. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69f47e...

Slightly idle thought. Don’t think there’s mention in the Milburn Review of the PMs ambition that 2/3 young people go into HE? Not a primary driver but you’d expect at least a namecheck. In fact don’t know if I’ve heard much / anything since Skills White Paper - which may make some diff but not much

Our research found 1 in 2 NEETs not on benefits. But how many have a job lined up v how many are at risk of detachment? The Milburn Review helps answer. Of the 315k 'hidden NEETs' they identify, 71k are on a gap year or waiting to start a course or job. Suggests 244k (75%) are most potential concern

Read the Milburn Review interim report here - I’m pleased to have been part of the expert panel for this. Final report in September. www.gov.uk/government/p...

"We must act urgently with greater scale and pace. It's time to move from analysis to action." ✍️ L&W chief exec @stephenevans.bsky.social responds to the interim report from the Milburn review and new ONS data on young people not in education, employment or training. Read Stephen's comment. ⬇️

Alarm bells ringing as more than one million young people are now NEET, the highest rates (5.1% for 16-17s, 15.8% for 18-24s) since 2013. The twin challenges of a tougher labour market & disjointed & underfunded support services need tackling urgently.

"Just offering people some help rather than ignoring them or writing them off is a good thing." Read L&W chief exec @stephenevans.bsky.social's comment on the impact of employment support in @telegraph.co.uk. 📰⬇️ www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...

1. The Milburn Review interim report is imminent & tomorrow we have new NEET stats. This matters because almost 1m young people are not in education, employment or training, up 1/3 since the pandemic, risking LT damage to their career prospects. learningandwork.org.uk/theres-one-m...

New UK job-ad data suggests AI exposure is not affecting all jobs equally. AI seems to be displacing routine office and service work—not graduate occupations. So far, this looks like an acceleration of a much older labour-market trend. #dataisbeautiful open.substack.com/pub/teraalla...

The Milburn review is expected to put out an interim report this week, diagnosing the challenges faced by young people who are NEET. However, we’ll have to wait until autumn for the solutions. But, do we? And should young people have to wait? We already know quite a lot about what works. 🧵

Sounds like the Milburn review is going to vociferously reiterate the view held by everyone in employment world that 'systems failures' are the heart of the NEET issue. (eg. see this from @stephenevans.bsky.social from March) So - what specific failures need to be shouted about the loudest?🧵