Welcome to the latest edition of the RDIN Economy and Skills bulletin. The bulletin has been produced with the help and support of the Economy and Labour Force Topic Group, and many of the articles have been written by members of the group.
We aim to provide accessible articles on issues of economics and skills relevant to the wider Regional Data & Intelligence Network.
This bulletin draws together articles covering topics ranging from strategies to alleviate child poverty, skills mismatch in land-based sectors and a successful innovation project. We highlight research emerging from our region's universities as well as data sources and analysis from partner organisations.
To submit an article to future bulletins, please contact either brian.macaulay@wmro.org or stewart.houghton@wmro.org at the Observatory.
IXC UK Ltd, the Birmingham-based, HEIF-funded pilot designed to facilitate the sharing of expertise and collaboration on research projects, has demonstrated a ten-fold return on funding investment in its first year.
Led by the University of Birmingham, IXC UK has delivered more than 180 innovative connections to its business and university clients of which the combined, potential incremental value is forecast by these clients to be worth in excess of £200 million.
Representing the heart of England at the heart of Europe, the West Midlands in Europe office in Brussels plays a major role in increasing regional awareness, connections, confidence and active participation in EU opportunities. Through targeted expertise, intelligence, profile and personal contacts with EU institutions, networks and other regions in Brussels, West Midlands in Europe works with regional partners to influence evolving EU policy and programmes and to increase the flow of EU funding, trade and investment into the region.
The Government has set targets of halving child poverty by 2010 and eradicating it by 2020. In order to respond to this challenge, the Department for Work and Pensions has produced its child poverty strategy Working for Children.
David Collier, Regional Director of National Farmers’ Union in the West Midlands highlights the risks from labour mismatch in land-based industries.
A recent research project undertaken by Anne Green and Richard White of the Institute for Employment Research at the University of Warwick explored how social networks and attachment to place shape young people’s attitudes towards education, training and work opportunities, and looks at the scope for interventions to ‘widen’ horizons and enhance access to opportunities.
A team of researchers from the Business School (David Bailey and Alex de Ruyter) and the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies (Caroline Chapain, Stephen Hall, Alan Murie and Gill Bentley) have received ESRC funding to conduct a study on The Economic and Social Impact of the Demise of Rover at Longbridge.
Dr Jenny Phillimore at Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, University of Birmingham has led a project with Dr Lisa Goodson, which has developed and piloted an integrated employability pathway model aimed at overcoming the multiple barriers that refugees experience when trying to seek skilled employment.
In late October 2007 the Office for National Statistics published their revised 2001 Travel to Work Areas (TTWA) based on information from the 2001 Census of Population, and updating the previous TTWAs which were defined in 1998.
In this short article, labour market executive Simon Wright seeks to clarify limitations of Jobcentre Plus labour market data and its availability.