ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts of the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of the book. The book seeks to draw together the themes emerging from the earlier empirical and theoretical material. It summarises the substantive empirical material and examines where the case study data has produced innovative findings, the second investigates the broader theoretical picture and the third turns to policy and considers how the findings inform potential policy formulation. The case study material was gathered from a large factory and a large office in Bristol. The book investigates skill and it was found that the concept of skill is seen and used in dramatically different ways, so much so that talk of a “skills gap” which may be filled by retraining is over-simplistic. Neo-classical theory argues that labour markets should be controlled by economic phenomena, with the price mechanism, if allowed to work freely, bringing about labour market equilibrium.
