Women are under-represented in many STEM areas, but within the engineering sector the gender imbalance is particularly stark. Just 9% of the current engineering workforce is female, contributing to wider gender pay inequalities and posing significant challenges to the supply of skills into the economy.
Successfully tackling this imbalance will require the efforts of a wide range of stakeholders, including government, employers and education providers; and the effective use of all available levers. One such lever is the apprenticeship programme, where the government has made a commitment to achieve 3 million apprenticeship starts by 2020.
In order to help better understand and tackle gender stereotypes in STEM apprenticeships, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation commissioned Learning and Work Institute to conduct an analysis of the government’s (SFA) Find an Apprenticeship dataset.
7 September 2026
UK must make training the ‘go-to’ response to skills needs, or risk holding back growth, new report warns
The Government’s plans to get the economy growing risk falling short unless it takes action to reverse sharp falls in the training employees get at work, new analysis warns.
7 September 2026
Understanding employer investment in skills
This is the third and final report of our project funded by the Nuffield Foundation looking at employer investment in skills, and how employees are responding to the need to upskill and retrain in a transitioning economy.
18 August 2026
Labour market dashboard
Every month, Learning and Work Institute produces detailed and timely analysis of the latest labour market statistics from ONS. Explore our interactive charts.
12 August 2026
Small employers, big opportunities: apprenticeships for young people
Olly Newton, Executive Director at Edge Foundation, reflects on key messages from the Edge Foundation-sponsored workshop at Learning and Work Institute’s Employment and Skills Convention, exploring how small employers and local partners can support more young people into apprenticeships.
29 June 2026
What enables the effective design, delivery and evaluation of local work and health programmes?
This report presents findings from an evidence review on what enables the effective design, delivery and evaluation of local health and work programmes.
29 June 2026
Scoping report: Labour Market Evidence Programme
This scoping report as part of the Labour Market Evidence programme provides a summary of the work undertaken by IES and L&W between October 2025 and March 2026 including user consultation. It summarises the evidence needs of local policy makers and sets out how these needs can be addressed.
9 June 2026
Final report: Evaluation of the JobsPlus Pilot
This evaluation of JobsPlus builds on the interim findings published in September 2025 to provide evidence on whether the model can be adapted to the UK context and effectively implemented to improve employment outcomes.
1 April 2026
Supporting the progression of low-income workers in Scotland
With funding from the Robertson Trust, Learning and Work Institute has been working in partnership with Edinburgh College to develop a pilot to support low-income workers in Scotland to progress into better jobs.
1 April 2026
Final report: Supporting the progression of low-income workers in Scotland
This report shares findings from the second phase of our programme of work funded by the Robertson Trust and delivered in partnership with Edinburgh College. It sets out a proposed model for a new, evidence-led, in-work progression programme in Edinburgh.
