The Welsh Government has today published a report written by Alan Felstead and Rhys Davies which provides new evidence on the nature of employment in Wales. Work in Wales 2006-2017: Evidence from the Skills and Employment Surveys provides valuable insights – taken from the perspective of workers – on a number of issues including the promotion of fair work; the enhancement of skills utilisation and development; and the identification of workplace innovation as a source of productivity enhancement.
Although many sources of data help to provide a detailed understanding of the labour market in Wales, data on the quality or fairness of people’s jobs and their experiences of work – beyond what they get paid – is in short supply. The Skills and Employment Surveys go some way to address this evidence gap. This report draws on data taken from the most recent 2017 SES, combined with its 2012 and 2006 predecessors. These surveys provide a unique insight in to the working lives of the people of Britain both before and after the 2008-2009 recession. With the support of dedicated boosts to the survey samples for Wales, detailed, one-hour long, face-to-face interviews have been conducted with 1,449 workers living in Wales over these three waves. Utilising this data, this study examines how the experience of Welsh workers over the last decade has differed from other parts of Britain and how these experiences have themselves varied between different groups of people.
Both the full report and a summary of key findings are available at: https://gov.wales/skills-and-employment-survey-work-wales-2006-2017.