Stephen Evans
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stephenevans.bsky.social
Stephen Evans
@stephenevans.bsky.social
1.3K followers 380 following 630 posts

Chief Executive, Learning and Work Institute.
Ex HMT, SMF and London government.
Learning, skills, labour markets & public policy.
Views my own.

Videos
Materials science 21%
Communication & Media Studies 14%
Posts Replies Media Videos

stephenevans.bsky.social
Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · 2d
This is a very good idea, one @learnworkuk.bsky.social have called for since our 2020 Youth Commission. Helps for 58% of NEETs who’ve never had a paid job. Hopefully eligibility expands from current very narrow limits.
feweek.bsky.social FE Week @feweek.bsky.social · 2d
💼 The government’s jobs guarantee programme will include grants of up to £2,650 per participant for organisations supporting unemployed young people into paid work placements
feweek.co.uk/jobs-guarant...
'Jobs guarantee' delivery partners paid up to £2,650
Government's jobs guarantee programme will include grants of up to £2,650 per participant for organisations supporting unemployed young into work placements.
feweek.co.uk

Reposted by Stephen Evans

feweek.bsky.social
FE Week @feweek.bsky.social · 2d
💼 The government’s jobs guarantee programme will include grants of up to £2,650 per participant for organisations supporting unemployed young people into paid work placements
feweek.co.uk/jobs-guarant...
'Jobs guarantee' delivery partners paid up to £2,650
Government's jobs guarantee programme will include grants of up to £2,650 per participant for organisations supporting unemployed young into work placements.
feweek.co.uk

Reposted by Stephen Evans

learnworkuk.bsky.social
Learning and Work Institute @learnworkuk.bsky.social · 2d
Register for our webinar: 'No train, no gain' 📺

This webinar will reflect on our research commissioned by Multiverse showing how access to in-work training can act as a boon for people’s pay and careers.

📆 Wednesday 11 March

🕑 1-2pm

Register now: learningandwork.org.uk/events/no-tr...
No train, no gain - Learning and Work Institute
This webinar will explore findings of L&W research showing how access to in-work training can act as a boon for people’s pay and careers.
learningandwork.org.uk

Reposted by Stephen Evans

learnworkuk.bsky.social
Learning and Work Institute @learnworkuk.bsky.social · 2d
Read L&W chief exec @stephenevans.bsky.social's comment on graduate unemployment in London in The Telegraph. 🗞️

“It does look like, on the face of it, that this is a kind of deterioration in the labour market in London.”

www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...
London was the place to start a career. Now graduates can’t get a job
The well-trodden route to career success has been stymied by soaring unemployment in the capital
www.telegraph.co.uk

Reposted by Stephen Evans

gavin-kelly.bsky.social
Gavin Kelly @gavin-kelly.bsky.social · 7d
Major @nuffieldfoundation.org funded research on the trajectory of high-achieving pupils at age 11 (from poorer & better-off families) through school into HE (or not).

The class gap in entry to the Russel Group is very large, mostly (not exclusively) explained by attainment & seems to have narrowed

stephenevans.bsky.social
Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · 9d
I’m increasingly convinced that the best way to be well off is to have or come into money or have well off parents who give you money. Am available for speaking events or newspaper columns on the topic.

Reposted by Stephen Evans

learnworkuk.bsky.social
Learning and Work Institute @learnworkuk.bsky.social · 9d
Read L&W chief exec @stephenevans.bsky.social's comment on cuts to skills bootcamps in @feweek.bsky.social. ⬇️🗞️
Bootcamp cuts as DWP switches to ‘budget-led’ funding
Local authorities face cuts of up to 75 per cent to their skills bootcamp budgets under a new government funding model based on historic delivery, not demand.
feweek.co.uk

Reposted by Stephen Evans

zionlights.bsky.social
Zion Lights @zionlights.bsky.social · 14d
Why don’t people believe experts? A lot of public communication still relies on the deficit model. But this approach consistently fails, and here I explain why.

For more science content follow my channel on YouTube > youtube.com/shorts/IkKdD...

stephenevans.bsky.social
Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · 14d
9m adults in England have low literacy or numeracy. Yet our analysis shows 63% fewer people each year are taking courses to improve as funding cut. And @theifs.bsky.social analysis today shows we're spending 15-29% less per learner than in 2013-14. Not good for productivity or life chances.

Reposted by Stephen Evans

paulbivand.bsky.social
Paul Bivand @paulbivand.bsky.social · 15d
Not actually job losses (Outflows from HMRC employment) much, decline is in recruitment (Inflow to HMRC employment). Which predominantly affects young labour market entrants. But your points on Nat Ins. etc. may have affected recruitment more.

stephenevans.bsky.social
Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · 15d
3. Bonus chart. Lots of discussion about reduced dynamism hitting UK growth. People moving into work or changing jobs as % of total employment has definitely dropped post financial crisis, from 9.5-10% to c8% per quarter. Equivalent to c1m fewer p.a. Career change less common too.

Reposted by Stephen Evans

learnworkuk.bsky.social
Learning and Work Institute @learnworkuk.bsky.social · 15d
"Looking ahead, slow growth and global instability increase the risks of rising worklessness, increasing the importance of the Government focusing on growth."

✍️ L&W chief exec @stephenevans.bsky.social responds to today's labour market statistics released by ONS.
Labour market analysis, 20 January 2026
Learning and Work Institute's response to the labour market stats for January 2026, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
learningandwork.org.uk

stephenevans.bsky.social
Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · 15d
2. Meanwhile pay growth remains both too weak (we're £12k pa worse off than on pre-financial crisis trends) & too strong (c3% is consistent with inflation target & 1% productivity growth; it's 3.9% in private sector & 7.8% in public sector with timing effects driving that mainly).

stephenevans.bsky.social
Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · 15d
Labour market continues to ease & restructure; payroll employment down 150k in a year in retail & hospitality, up 52k in health & public admin. There are 5.4 people who want a job for every vacancy, up from 2.4 in post-pandemic crunch of 2022. Global events unlikely to help...

stephenevans.bsky.social
Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · 16d
Takes me a long time to get to the office but something like this happens now and again!

stephenevans.bsky.social
Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · 16d
Oxfordshire.

stephenevans.bsky.social
Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · 16d
I won’t win any photography prizes, but very cool to see the Northern Lights tonight (much brighter on camera than with naked eye).

stephenevans.bsky.social
Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · 16d
I was planning to just demand that someone else give me theirs & then it would become mine. An idea I picked up from somewhere...

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Will Jennings, Steve Peers , and 3 more

igmansfield.bsky.social
Iain Mansfield @igmansfield.bsky.social · 19d
For those who want a broader perspective in their feed, a right-wing starter pack.

Includes the six Tory MPs currently on BlueSky and a range of other think-tankers, ex-SpAds and journalists.

go.bsky.app/JvKL6aE

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Will Jennings, Stephen Evans , and 3 more

Reposted by Stephen Evans, Tim Leunig

xiaoweixu.bsky.social
Xiaowei Xu @xiaoweixu.bsky.social · 20d
The latest USoc wave lets us split out the Covid years from what came after.

So striking that they look the same!

Average mental ill health (based on a general screening instrument) is no better now than during the lockdown years, at any age. @alexbryson.bsky.social @dannyblanchy.bsky.social

stephenevans.bsky.social
Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · 22d
Yes. Lots of centrally driven, short lived, initiatives driving focus (people follow funding). We described as policy merry-go-round here. Meanwhile too little focus on innovation, ecosystem or outcome success measures. Central levers doesn't equal results. Maybe some kind of mission might help...
Learning the lessons: Understanding the history of adult learning and skills
learningandwork.org.uk

Reposted by Stephen Evans

learnworkuk.bsky.social
Learning and Work Institute @learnworkuk.bsky.social · 23d
In @feweek.bsky.social, L&W chief exec @stephenevans.bsky.social comments on West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s plans to phase out Skills Bootcamps in favour of Targeted Employment Programmes. ⬇️
Mayors walk away from skills bootcamps
Two regional authorities are ditching the skills bootcamp training model after gaining greater freedom over adult skills plans in new devolution deals.
feweek.co.uk

stephenevans.bsky.social
Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · 24d
Recognise that. Also applies to countries increasingly I find…

stephenevans.bsky.social
Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · 27d
England has twice as many apprenticeship occupational standards as Germany. Our economy is not twice as complicated. Time to slim down the proliferation of narrow & overlapping standards so apprenticeships & other quals prepare people for careers not just current jobs.
learnworkuk.bsky.social Learning and Work Institute @learnworkuk.bsky.social · 27d
"Occupational standards can be the foundation of a smarter, more responsive skills system. But only if we’re willing to rethink how they work—and who they’re really for."

Read L&W's @stephenevans.bsky.social and Pearson's Donna Ford-Clarke's article on occupational standards in England. ⬇️📝
From confusion to clarity: rethinking England’s 670 occupational standards - Learning and Work Institute
learningandwork.org.uk

Reposted by Stephen Evans

learnworkuk.bsky.social
Learning and Work Institute @learnworkuk.bsky.social · 27d
"Occupational standards can be the foundation of a smarter, more responsive skills system. But only if we’re willing to rethink how they work—and who they’re really for."

Read L&W's @stephenevans.bsky.social and Pearson's Donna Ford-Clarke's article on occupational standards in England. ⬇️📝
From confusion to clarity: rethinking England’s 670 occupational standards - Learning and Work Institute
learningandwork.org.uk

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Ben H. Ansell, Stephen Evans

igmansfield.bsky.social
Iain Mansfield @igmansfield.bsky.social · 28d
Great to see my forecasting contest featured in this morning's Playbook!

Can you predict what will happen in 2026?

Test your prediction skills using the link below:

⬇️

www.edrith.co.uk/p/2026-forec...

Reposted by Stephen Evans

resolutionfoundation.org
Resolution Foundation @resolutionfoundation.org · 29d
As with most economic downturns, young people are bearing the brunt of a falling employment rate.

(Although the current episode of rising unemployment is not yet of equal scale to previous labour market downturns)

Reposted by Stephen Evans, Melanie Simms

learnworkuk.bsky.social
Learning and Work Institute @learnworkuk.bsky.social · 29d
We're looking for a new Campaigns and Events Coordinator to join our team! 📣

In this role, you would provide coordination of and administrative support to our Get the Nation Learning campaign; regional adult learning awards; and L&W events.

Find out more and apply by 1 February. 📝⬇️
Campaigns and Events Coordinator - Learning and Work Institute
learningandwork.org.uk

stephenevans.bsky.social
Stephen Evans @stephenevans.bsky.social · Jan 5
4. Levy raising more over time as nominal wages rise (it's a payroll levy for large firms). Apprenticeship budget in England rising too, but HMT still keeping £1bn (ex £ for devolved administrations) & seeming growing share of England budget for large firms this new data suggests.