The labour market is changing rapidly: as automation and AI reshape the workplace, nearly one million young people in the UK are not in education, employment or training, and employers are concerned about job readiness.
The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) tackles these, and other concerns, in the final report of its five-year The Skills Imperative 2035 project. It highlights the skills needed for the jobs of the future, the implications for policymakers, schools, training providers, employers, and workers, and the importance of these skills for productivity and economic growth.
The skills needed to future-proof the workforce
The NFER report identifies the six “essential employment skills” that are now vital for employability:
- information literacy
- problem solving and decision-making
- communication
- collaboration
- organising, planning and prioritising
- creative thinking
It emphasises how these skills will become increasingly important as they complement growing workplace technology, but warns of shortages that are likely to worsen without action. While fewer jobs at the lower paid end of the labour market could leave many people out of work, a shortage of skilled employees at the top could constrain economic growth.
Three million jobs could be lost
The report warns that up to three million jobs in the UK could be at risk by 2035 in low and mid-skilled occupations such as administration, customer service and machine operations. Equipping both young people and those changing careers with essential employment skills will therefore be vital to preparing the workforce for the jobs of tomorrow.
The Skills Imperative concludes that extensive changes are needed to create a system of lifelong learning to ensure people have the skills required for a labour market drastically altered by technology. It contains a series of recommendations across all phases of life and education stretching from the early years, through to school, further and higher education, and adulthood.
Our biggest ever investment in education research
The report is the culmination of a five-year programme funded by the Nuffield Foundation – our most significant investment ever in education research – and part of our focus on addressing the weak evidence base surrounding vocational education pathways.
It adds to a substantial and authoritative body of work on key issues within the skills agenda, and complements other large-scale research projects funded through the Foundation’s Strategic Fund. These include the Pissarides Review into the Future of Work and Well-being, led by The Institute for the Future of Work, the Resolution Foundation’s Economy 2030 Inquiry, and the Deaton Review of Inequalities conducted by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
The Skills Imperative 2035 is our most significant investment ever in education research. With accelerating labour market changes impacting both the jobs available in the future and the skills and qualifications needed to do them, its findings could not be more relevant or better timed. The report’s focus is on what are now widely recognised as the essential employment skills that underpin employability and are increasingly sought after in the evolving world of work. It makes a major contribution to our understanding of how to better value, develop, and support these skills. Crucially, it also provides the education system, employers, and policymakers with evidence to help ensure the workforce can continue to build and use them effectively in a dynamic labour market.Josh Hillman, Director of Education, Nuffield Foundation
About the Foundation’s Strategic Fund
The Strategic Fund supports new, transformative ideas that will address the most significant themes and developments shaping the UK public policy agenda, with grants typically in the range of £1-3 million.
The next deadline to apply is 16 March 2026.
