Skills and workforce development are at the heart of much research on work, employment, and management. But are they so important? To what extent can they make a difference for individuals, organizations, and nations? How are the supply and, more importantly, the utilization of skill, currently evolving? What are the key factors shaping skills trajectories of the future?

This Handbook provides an authoritative consideration of issues such as these. It does so by drawing on experts in a wide range of disciplines including sociology, economics, labour/industrial relations, human resource management, education, and geography. The Handbook is relevant for all with an interest in the changing nature - and future - of work, employment, and management. It draws on the latest scholarly insights to shed new light on all the major issues concerning skills and training today. While written primarily by leading scholars in the field, it is equally relevant to policy makers and practitioners responsible for shaping the development of human capability today and into the future.

About the Author:
Chris Warhurst is Professor and Director of the Institute for Employment Research at the University of Warwick, a Trustee of the Tavistock Institute in London, and a Research Associate of the Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE) at Oxford University. He has published a number of books and articles on skills, including, with colleagues, The Skills that Matter (Palgrave, 2004) and Are Bad Jobs Inevitable? (Palgrave, 2012). He has been expert advisor on skills policy to the UK, Scottish, and Australian governments and an International Expert Adviser to the OECD's LEED programme.

Ken Mayhew is Emeritus Professor of Education and Economic Performance, at Oxford University, Emeritus Fellow in Economics at Pembroke College Oxford, Extraordinary Professor at Maastricht University, and a member of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body. He was founding director of SKOPE, an ESRC Research Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance. He has published widely in labour economics and policy analysis.

David Finegold is President of Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. He developed the concepts of the low-skill equilibrium and high-skill ecosystems. He is a leading international expert on skill development systems and their relationship to the changing world of work and economic performance.

John Buchanan is Professor in the Research Development Unit at the University of Sydney Business School. Until recently his major research interest has been the demise of the classical wage-earner model of employment and the role of the state in nurturing new forms of multi-employer coordination in the labour market. Building on this he is devoting special attention to the evolution of the labour contract, the dynamics of workforce development, and the relationship between work and health. He is especially interested in building cross disciplinary research teams to examine these issues. His most recent co-edited book is Inclusive Growth in Australia: Social Policy as Economic Investment (2013).