RESEARCH AND ADVICE ON WORK AND SKILLS
Shaping a more inclusive labour market and a future-ready skills system
Work Advance is an independent research and advisory practice. We help government, industry, employers and educators understand how work and skills needs are changing, and turn that evidence into policy and action.
Latest work
Good work and inclusion - Sector skills
Job quality in the Creative Industries, 2026
Working with the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, we revisited job quality in creative work, three years on from our landmark Good Work Review. Across nearly 40 indicators, we benchmarked the creative industries against the whole economy and the other growth sectors in the UK's Industrial Strategy (IS-8).
NEW REPORT
Local and regional assessments
London Cancer District: jobs, skills and learning pathways
With Oxford Economics, we are examining occupational demand and skills needs of the London Cancer District, mapping education and training provision and pathways into good jobs for local residents.
NEW PROJECT
Skills system reviews
Giving informal learning the recognition it deserves
With the OECD Centre for Skills, we provided detailed recommendations for how to better define and measure the skills people gain through work, everyday life and self-directed study.
NEW REPORT
Evidence into action, across the whole policy cycle
We help clients diagnose the challenge, build the evidence, co-design solutions with the people who will deliver them, and evaluate what works.
Our work runs at every scale, from a single town to whole industries and national skills systems.
Local and regional labour market and skills assessments
Providing the evidence places need to plan for jobs and skills
Sector skills audits, forecasts and strategies
Understanding workforce needs and shaping learning pathways into critical jobs
National and international skills system reviews
Strengthening how skills systems are governed and run
Good work, inclusion and social mobility
Widening access to good jobs and progression
Productivity, management and the future of work
Supporting workplace innovation and responsible business
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IMPACT
Evidence that makes a difference
LONDON’S GROWTH SECTORS
Informed the Mayor of London's Academies Programme and Workforce Integration Network, helping more Londoners into good jobs in health, green, digital, creative and hospitality.
GOOD WORK REVIEW
Led to a joint government and industry action plan, a new capacity-building programme for business, and a shared commitment to Good and Fair Work from arts funders across the UK.
THE ASHFORD AMBITION
Set a long-term jobs and skills vision to inform Ashford Borough Council's Corporate Plan, Economic Development Strategy and Local Plan, aiming for more than 22,500 additional jobs by 2040.
ABOUT US
The right experts for every project
We are a network of leading experts in labour markets, skills and the world of work. For each project, we bring together the team with exactly the expertise it needs, without the overheads of a large consultancy.
✓ Deep expertise
✓ The right team, every time
✓ Senior people doing the work
✓ Exceptional value
Planning a skills or workforce study?
We'd be happy to talk it through, whatever stage your thinking is at.