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The article focuses on recent policy papers published in United Kingdom (UK) related to education and released between July 15 and 19, 2024. Topics include the support system for special educational needs in England, youth unemployment statistics in the UK and European Union (EU), and mandatory reporting duties for child abuse in England.

The article delves into various policy papers recently published by the UK Government and parliamentary libraries, as well as insights from think tanks and other organizations. It covers topics such as T Level education plans, the integration of AI (artificial intelligence) in education regulation, findings from the National Behaviour Survey, and discussions on child poverty statistics and the UK's policy response.

Trade unions play an important role in ensuring that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are integrated into the development agenda and strategies of countries. The findings from in-depth online interviews with trade union officers from seven national labour confederations and senior ILO officials in five Asian countries, complemented by a review of secondary sources, show that, depending on a set of factors, trade unions utilize a variety of strategies in influencing their country’s commitments to and progress on achieving the SDGs. The paper argues that both the strategies and outcomes of the SDG-related engagements of the unions in three of the five countries, which are influenced by several important factors, have contributed, albe-it to varying degrees, to their revitalization in terms of the development and strengthening of their power resources, particularly the unions’ institutional power. The paper identifies several ways that trade unions can sustain successful SDG-related initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on recent policy papers published between 9 and 13 September 2024. Topics discussed include the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on United Kingdom (UK) public service productivity; recent statistics and comparisons on youth unemployment; and current data and policies regarding student mental health in England. Additionally, it features the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development's (OECD) annual statistical report on international education.

The article presents the discussion on "EPM Weekly Policy Papers" details policy papers published between 22 to 26 July, 2024, focusing on government and parliamentary publications. Topics include lack of new government policy papers, a House of Lords Library briefing on developing a national strategy for public libraries in England, and contributions from think tanks and international organizations.

The article focuses on the policy papers published during the week of 8 to 12 July, 2024. Topics include research briefings on the education commitments outlined in the King's Speech, support for childcare costs and plans for extending free childcare, and the latest statistics on youth unemployment and student loan debt.

The platformization of the creative industry has fundamentally transformed the landscape of creative work. This working paper examines the impact of digital platforms on creative workers, focusing on the dichotomy between platform control and worker autonomy. It focuses on both conventional artistic occupations like musicians and photographers as well as "new" professions like bloggers and podcasters. Although social media and streaming platforms have democratized access to global audiences and fostered unprecedented creativity, they also pose significant challenges. The precarious nature of platform-based work, characterized by irregular income, lack of job security, and the concentration of power in a few dominant platforms, or gatekeepers, raises concerns about exploitative practices and the stifling of creativity. This paper calls into question the performative nature of platform algorithms and governance structures to actively shape and influence the behaviour of creative workers, social norms and market dynamics through their design and operational logic. The paper advocates for comprehensive policies and strategies to harness the benefits of creative platforms while mitigating their downsides, ensuring fair compensation, protecting intellectual property rights, and promoting a sustainable and inclusive digital creative economy. Future research should explore definitions and measurements of creative workers on platforms, the long-term impact of platformization, and the transformative potential of artificial intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world of work is experiencing multiple transformations driven by automation and digitalization, environmental changes, (de)globalization, and demographic shifts, among other factors. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, worsening geopolitical tensions, environmental disasters and armed conflicts have further exacerbated these realities to the extent that today we are living in a poly- or perma-crisis. These multiple pressures and crises impact the world of work and oblige trade unions to reflect and act upon uncertainty and change. Increasingly, trade unions worldwide do this, while exploring different tools and methods to think and act upon their future readiness. One method that can be particularly useful is strategic foresight. The paper is the first of its kind, documenting trade union experience worldwide on doing foresight. The research was done through literature review, desk research and direct participation in foresight workshops. Foresight training courses and workshops were organized in various regions in the world (i.e. Europe, the Arab States, Africa, Asia and the Pacific) in the period 2019-2023. The objective of this paper is to provide concrete examples and lessons learned for trade unions that are willing to experiment with strategic thinking and foresight. The paper builds further on the foresight literature by paying particular attention to the context of trade unionism, and trade union realities in different regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the second half of the 20th century was characterised by a growing integration of the global economy, in recent years there have been growing calls for protectionism and reshoring. At the same time, COVID-19 resulted in higher levels of remote working, which showed that many jobs could be done from anywhere and could, in theory, be offshored. The future of offshoring and reshoring is therefore highly uncertain. This document summarises some of the key issues and trends with regards to offshoring and reshoring. It then sets out a research agenda which would result in a better understanding the future of offshoring and reshoring and their impact on domestic labour markets, which would help policy makers in OECD countries plan for the changes that lie ahead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes to the literature on the relationship between trade, labour and environmental sustainability by providing empirical evidence at the firm level. For this purpose, it first explores whether exporting firms are more likely than non-exporting firms to adopt green measures. Second, it assesses how labour market outcomes such as productivity, wages, education level of workers, and training provided by firms may vary between green exporters and firms that do not engage in trade or undertake green measures. The study finds that exporting firms have a significantly higher probability of adopting green measures than do non-exporting firms. In addition, on average, among exporting firms, those that implement green measures tend to have higher levels of productivity, pay higher wages, offer more training and have a similar share of workers with a university degree in comparison with exporters that do not implement green measures. However, the gain in labour productivity associated with exporting and the adoption of green measures does not seem to translate into higher wages in lower-middle-income and upper-middle-income countries; it only does so in high-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) and explores their benefits when used to make traditional payment processes more private. PETs can decrease privacy risk by reducing the amount of sensitive information accessible to payment-processing personnel and systems. This paper proposes a framework for quantifying the risk-reduction benefits of PETs. This method can be used to calculate the amount of privacy-risk exposure that may be created by a set of payment activities, estimate the amount by which PETs can decrease that exposure, and compare that quantified benefit against possible PET drawbacks. Assessing these drawbacks is outside the scope of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical evidence on the potential impacts of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is mostly focused on high-income countries. In contrast, little is known about the role of this technology on the future economic pathways of developing economies. This paper contributes to fill this gap by estimating the exposure of the Latin American labour market to GenAI. It provides detailed statistics of GenAI exposure between and within countries by leveraging a rich set of harmonized household and labour force surveys. To account for the slower pace of technology adoption in developing economies, it adjusts the measures of exposure to GenAI by using the likelihood of accessing digital technologies at work. This is then used to assess the extent to which the digital divide across and within countries will be a barrier to maximize the productivity gains among occupations that could otherwise be augmented by GenAI tools. The findings show that certain characteristics are consistently correlated with higher exposure. Specifically, urban-based jobs that require higher education, are situated in the formal sector, and are held by individuals with higher incomes are more likely to come into interaction with this technology. Moreover, there is a pronounced tilt toward younger workers facing greater exposure, including the risk of job automation, particularly in the finance, insurance, and public administration sectors. When adjusting for access to digital technologies, the findings show that the digital divide is a major barrier to realizing the positive effects of GenAI on jobs in the region. In particular, nearly half of the positions that could potentially benefit from augmentation are hampered by lack of use of digital technologies. This negative effect of the digital divide is more pronounced in poorer countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]