Flexible careers? New skills acquisitions over the life course

There are strong policy drivers underpinning reskilling and retraining over the lifecourse. Perennial concerns about the impact of skill levels and shortages on the United Kingdom's (UK) international economic competitiveness, productivity and social mobility have led successive governments to lift age limits and increase funding to support training schemes such as apprenticeships (DfES 2003; Fuller et al 2015). At the same time, there has been an escalation of 'productive ageing' discourses in neoliberal economies such as the UK due to the contraction of labour forces and heightened pressures on welfare benefits due to 'global greying' (Moulaert and Biggs 2012). These support the view that there are significant financial, health and well-being benefits to sustained working over the life course and into later life. However, contradictorily, evidence is emerging to suggest that there are powerful financial, cultural and social barriers to retraining 'out of time' (Leonard et al 2017). With particular skills shortages in digital technology and the cultural and creative industries, this project will engage directly with businesses to take a comparative case study approach to explore the challenges to retraining and starting new careers within these sectors.