Posted By
Charles Levy and Prateek Sureka
20 March 2013
While the government's differentiated approach to supporting specific areas of our economy is welcomed, today's Budget (20 March) suggests a mixed message on industrial strategy.
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Posted By
Charles Levy
20 March 2013
It is easy to read too much into one month’s figures and it is certainly too early to make predictions, but it would be foolhardy to suggest that today’s numbers show a labour market in full recovery.
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Posted By
Charles Levy
06 December 2012
Last week, I argued that this year’s Autumn Statement would be one of the most difficult economic speeches delivered for years. Unfortunately yesterday’s statement was modest and immediately forgettable.
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Posted By
Charles Levy
27 November 2012
In less than two weeks the Chancellor will have to deliver one of the most difficult economic speeches for years.
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Posted By
Charles Levy
01 October 2012
Today ( Monday 1 October) the Royal Academy of Engineering launched a new report highlighting evidence that the demand for engineers exceeds supply. Supported by Big Innovation Centre research and analysis, they present a compelling evidence base.
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Posted By
Charles Levy
10 August 2012
London secured the games, in part on the back of their promised legacy impact. It will be many years before we know the extent to which London 2012 changes the fate of the East End of London, but in one area the legacy is off to an incredible start. We are doing an excellent job of positioning the UK on the global stage as a dynamic and creative location to invest. In the long-term this may be even more important than the regeneration projects.
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Posted By
Charles Levy
24 July 2012
Today (Tuesday 24 July) the Lords Science and Technology Committee published a detailed report into Higher Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths Subjects (STEM) . The paper rightly highlights that we simply don’t have enough good quality science graduates to drive innovation and growth.
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Posted By
Charles Levy
28 June 2012
Data out today from the Higher Education Statistics Agency confirms just how well our graduates are faring in our labour market compared to those without degrees.
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Posted By
Charles Levy
20 June 2012
Today’s labour market statistics were welcome news, but there may be a sting in the tail. Rising employment, falling unemployment and strong private sector job creation should always be welcomed, but it is surprising when the output numbers tell us we were entering a recession at exactly the same time.
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Posted By
Charles Levy
06 March 2012
Today’s (6 Mar) release from ONS does rather suggest that we may have too many graduates. They lead with two stylised facts “Recent graduates more likely to work in lower skill jobs than a decade ago” and “Over the same period the population of recent graduates who are no longer in education has increased by over 41 per cent”. From this it is not too much of a stretch to imagine this afternoon’s headlines and tomorrow’s comment pieces will claim that we should cut student numbers.
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Posted By
Charles Levy
28 February 2012
We know that our higher education sector is under strain. Complicated caps on student numbers, changes in tuition fees and the ‘impact’ agenda have created a baffling mix of institutional and individual incentives across the sector. In this context Sir Tim Wilson today published his review setting out over 50 recommendations for how to improve university-business collaboration.
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Posted By
Charles Levy
30 January 2012
Today’s figures from UCAS show that 42,038 fewer English applicants applied for UK undergraduate courses starting this year compared to last, a fall of 9.9%. At any time this would be cause for concern – we have consistently demonstrated that as our economy recovers and grows it will create an expanded demand for graduates. But, this year there is an extra worry since 2012 will be the first year that dramatically increased fees will apply for higher education.
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Posted By
Charles Levy
29 November 2011
Today Osborne was able to stand up the House of Commons and rely on the latest forecasts from the Office for Budgetary Responsibility. Things are bad, but with reliable numbers behind him we can have confidence that he is honestly telling us just how bad things are.
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Posted By
Charles Levy
24 October 2011
Data released by UCAS today was worrying. Comparing September this year to last almost 4,000 fewer people applied for places at university for the following year.
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Posted By
Charles Levy
17 August 2011
A number of commentators have today flagged the jump in the number of people reporting that they have taken on part-time work only because they can’t find full time work. But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. The graph below shows quite how tough things have been in the labour market over the past three years. Since the very start of the credit crunch the number of people in this group has been climbing at an alarming rate.
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