This paper describes the diffusion of computer use among jobs in Britain, and shows that the technology is having notable effects on the labour market. By 2006 three in four jobs entailed job-holders using computers, while for two in four jobs computer use was essential. Computing skills have a...

This paper investigates the impact of computer usage at work and other job features on the changing skills required of workers. It compare skills utilization in Britain at three data points: 1986, 1992 and 1997, using proxies for the level of skills actually used in jobs. This study questions...

The value that employees attach to the intrinsic aspects of work is important for whether or not job quality issues should have a central place on the social agenda. This article examines whether the importance that British employees attach to intrinsic job quality changed between 1992 and 2006....

Task discretion has held a central place in theories of work organization and the employment relationship. However, there have been sharply differing views about both the factors that determine it and the principal trends over time. Using evidence from three national surveys, this article shows...

We investigate the impact of different types of training on the mobility expectations of workers, using three surveys. Most training episodes produce some transferable skills, and most transferable training is paid for by employers. Overall, training has no impact on mobility in three out of...

We investigate the sources of supply of several core skills, using an innovative approach to skills measurement that involves adapting a job analysis methodology and applying it in a survey context. We then estimate the determinants of skills supply using a production function model. The main...

The paper investigates the impact of different types of training on the mobility expectations of workers, using two new data sets, one of individuals the other of firms. The innovation is that the data incorporate measures of the degree of transferability of training, improved information on the...

It has been argued that workplace skills are becoming more polarised in Britain. This tendency is sometimes considered to be a factor contributing to the process of social exclusion and growing wage inequality. Skill polarisation has therefore been the focus of renewed academic and--since the...