Publications
Introducing the Pissarides Review into the Future of Work and Wellbeing
This report marks the launch of the Pissarides Review into the Future of Work and Wellbeing, a collaboration between the Institute for the Future of Work, Imperial College London and Warwick Business School.
The Pissarides Review is a three-year programme of work, informed and supported by an expert Steering Group and funded by the Nuffield Foundation.
Working Papers and Briefings
This policy briefing outlines IFOW’s initial findings from the full Disruption Index report (see below) and the key implications for policy and practice.
The Disruption Index (DI) is a tool designed to measure the capacity of regions to invest in new technologies and the factors that enable firms to adopt and integrate new technologies. A Technical Report to show the underlying framework for the DI can be found here.
This major study led by Dr Magdalena Soffia and Professor Jolene Skordis explores in a pioneering way how exposure to technologies interacts with workers’ quality of life and wellbeing.
This new report explores in a pioneering way how exposure to technologies interacts with workers’ quality of life and wellbeing. The Briefing Paper summarises the findings of the full Working Paper above.
Analysing data from millions of job ads, this report - published jointly with the Centre for Economic Performance - explores how demand for skills is changing, how this demand varies across occupations, and what the implications are for education and training.
Based on a survey of 1000 UK firms, this Working Paper explores the extent of AI adoption, the work impacts, and what factors mediate improvements in job quality.
Briefing Paper with initial policy implications, based on the Working Paper exploring adoption of AI in UK firms.
Joint report with the Economy 2030 Inquiry - also funded by the Nuffield Foundation - and the Centre for Economic Performance, into how best to situate skills in an economic strategy.
Explainers
Reframing Skills: Sen’s Capability Approach in an age of automation
With automation and AI we are living through the greatest technological transition since industrialisation, precipitating major transformations of the nature of work that have profound implications for education and skills.
In the first of our ‘Explainers’, we outline why a novel application of Sen’s Capability Approach offers a new perspective, providing a comprehensive, organising framework to promote human flourishing centred on individual agency.
Reframing Automation: a new model for anticipating risks and impacts
To craft a fairer future of better work through this transition we need to understand the different impacts that automation can have, and how these impacts structure different types of risk, in different circumstances, for different groups.
In this paper, Dr Abigail Gilbert - Director of Praxis at IFOW - examines the current 'job replacement' narrative on automation, and identifies a wider range of intervention points to steer innovation towards beneficial social outcomes, such as a fairer future through better work.
Literature Reviews
Automation technologies are reshaping work, which has complex impacts on the wellbeing of workers. This paper by Bertha Rohenkohl and Jonathan Clarke reviews the literature on the impact of automation technologies on subjective wellbeing.
It explores automation risk, expectations of automation and technology adoption, analysing their effects on job and life satisfaction. While negative consequences of automation are commonly studied, our review uncovers potential for both positive and negative effects on wellbeing.
The United Kingdom’s labour market currently faces multiple challenges including low productivity, unfilled job posts, low workforce engagement, and deteriorating mental health in the working-age population.
This paper by Magdalena Soffia, Matthew Hall and Jolene Skordis explores how the Capability Approach—a framework assessing progress based on individuals’ opportunities to lead fulfilling lives— may offer insight into the causes of these challenges.
This paper by James Hayton provides a review of research on technology adoption, and its impact on work and workers. It summarises key strands of evidence about technology adoption, from the diffusion of innovations paradigm, rational choice models of technology adoption, the sociotechnical systems perspective, and the social construction of technology perspective. It then concludes with a description of the next phase of the research project within the Pissarides Review into the Future of Work and Wellbeing, which builds from this evidence.