Skills for Work: Understanding the Changing Labour Market
Understanding the Changing Labour Market is a Pearson Skills for Work unit in which learners research local and national jobs, explain what affects the labour market, including supply and demand, technology and education and economic initiatives, assess their own skills and write a career plan with alternatives if their first choice is not available. It is one 10 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Pearson Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma, from Entry 1 to Level 2. The centre sets and marks the assignment. Digital work sits in researching labour market information and careers websites online, referencing sources, and explaining at Level 2 how technology changes jobs. No criterion requires a digital product.
- Awarding body
- Pearson
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 10
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of digital work
- Medium
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): One assessment criterion at each of Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3: state, outline or identify factors that affect the local and national labour market, suggest alternative job options and the skills needed to adapt, and at Entry 3 produce a simple plan showing how career choice and skills could change. The centre sets and marks its own assignment (Pearson's Authorised Assignment Brief is optional) and there are no mandatory evidence requirements; work is internally verified and quality assured by a Pearson Standards Verifier. 10 guided learning hours, graded Pass or Fail.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at each level: learners describe (Level 1) or explain (Level 2) a range of factors affecting the labour market and their impact on their own job choices, and produce a realistic (Level 1) or detailed, personalised (Level 2) career plan showing how they will adapt to changing opportunities. The centre sets and marks its own assignment, with no mandatory evidence requirements, internally verified and quality assured by a Pearson Standards Verifier. 10 guided learning hours, graded Pass or Fail.
The digital skills in this qualification
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Researching labour market information and careers online
From Entry 2 learners complete research to investigate the local labour market, from Entry 3 the local and national market, and they research job or career options and complete a skills self-assessment, for example on a careers website. The research is required by the essential information for assessment decisions, while doing it online is how Pearson's mapping expects it, using sources such as Careers Wales and StatsWales.
DCF: Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils use the Careers Wales website to find three jobs linked to a subject they enjoy and bookmark each page.
- Year 8
- Pupils search for jobs in their county on a job site, adjust keywords and location to narrow the results, and record five vacancies in a table.
- Year 9
- Pupils use Careers Wales and StatsWales to find which sectors employ most people in their area and save the pages they used for a later report.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 16, Essential information for assessment decisions, Entry 2 and Entry 3, page 83, Level 1 and Level 2, page 84; Annexe C, page 121
“Online research using LMI sources (Careers Wales/StatsWales etc.)”
Progression step 3
I can adjust keywords and search techniques to find relevant information.
I can store search results for future use, e.g. bookmark, add to favourites.
Progression step 4
I can search a variety of sources using relevant search techniques with increased complexity.
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Referencing sources and acknowledging AI
Every learner must certify that the evidence is their own and that sources and any artificial intelligence used are clearly referenced; using AI tools without acknowledging them is malpractice. This applies at every level and is a requirement of the unit's rules on permitted resources, so learners keep track of the websites they use in their research.
DCF: Digital rights, licensing and ownership, Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils copy the web address and title of each website they use into a simple source list at the end of their work.
- Year 8
- Pupils add a source list to a research task and write one sentence explaining why they must say where information came from.
- Year 9
- Pupils discuss when using a chatbot would be acceptable for a careers task, then write an acknowledgement of any AI they used and the prompt they gave it.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 16, Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 85; Section 4, Assessment of units, page 9
“they have clearly referenced any sources and any artificial intelligence used”
Progression step 3
I can cite sources when researching and explain the importance of this, e.g. create simple lists for the referencing of digital and offline sources.
I can begin to reference sources used in my work, and consider if content is reliable.
Progression step 4
I can understand copyright and can explain the legal and ethical dimensions of respecting creative work, e.g. exploring the ethical and legal ramifications of piracy and plagiarism and know that they are irresponsible and disrespectful, and I can apply my understanding of the rules and regulations to different scenarios.
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Explaining how technology changes jobs
Level 2 learners explain the impact of factors such as supply and demand, technology, and local and national education and economic initiatives on the labour market and their own job choices, and Pearson's mapping says the teaching content covers technology and AI impacts on jobs. Lower levels describe or identify factors in general, so technology is one possible factor rather than a requirement below Level 2.
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils list jobs in a supermarket that have changed because of self checkouts and online ordering, and say who gains and who loses.
- Year 8
- Pupils compare how a bank, a garage and a newspaper worked thirty years ago and now, and describe the effect of technology on the jobs in each.
- Year 9
- Pupils research one job that artificial intelligence is changing and explain the effect on the number of jobs and the skills workers now need.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 16, assessment criteria Level 2, page 82; Essential information for assessment decisions, Level 2, page 84; Annexe E, page 129
“the impact of factors such as supply and demand, technology, and local/national education and economic initiatives”
Progression step 3
I can identify the wider positive and negative influences of technology, e.g. on my life, on society, on the environment.
Progression step 4
I can reflect on the role of digital media in my life and habits.
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Producing a career plan with digital tools
Learners produce a simple plan at Entry 3, a realistic career plan at Level 1 and a detailed, personalised plan with short and long term goals at Level 2. The plan is required, but making it digitally is only suggested by Pearson's mapping, which names digital tools for career planning, so the digital production itself is not assessed.
DCF: Creating digital content, Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils make a one slide plan of a job they would like, with an image, two skills they have and one skill they need.
- Year 8
- Pupils build a simple table in a document showing a first choice job, a back up job and the training each needs.
- Year 9
- Pupils create a digital career plan with short and long term goals, a timeline and links to the courses and websites they would use.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 16, assessment criteria Entry 3 to Level 2, page 82; Essential information for assessment decisions, pages 83 to 84; Annexe C, page 121
“using digital tools for career planning and upskilling awareness”
Progression step 3
I can use a range of software to select, produce and edit a range of multimedia components for a purpose, such as:
- text and images, e.g. format text (bold, underline, italics, highlight); insert and edit text boxes; columns; use refine tools (spellchecker, find and replace); word wrap; crop; alter size and shape; alter images; add effects; trim and split sound and video clips; transitions; onion skin
- presentation, e.g. page orientation; animations; transitions; remove and alter images; use background; use action buttons to create hyperlink; embed objects.
I can independently create and plan work before beginning a digital task.
Progression step 4
I can select and use a variety of appropriate software, tools and techniques to create, modify and combine multimedia components for a range of audiences and purposes, such as:
- text and images, e.g. explore and use effectively image manipulation techniques; explore and use appropriately the many aspects of document layout; use animation, video and audio effects such as echo, tempo, envelope, layering, frame rate, key frames
- presentation, e.g. use design tools; adapt themes and colours to suit the purpose; create master templates.
Good to know
- The unit is SfW 16 and is worth 10 guided learning hours, listed under "Developing adaptability and resilience" (Section 3, page 5). The WJEC unit of the same name is 20 guided learning hours.
- A learner achieves the unit once, at one level: "Learners can only achieve each unit once, at a single level." (Rules of Combination, page 6). Units and qualifications are graded Pass or Fail (page 7).
- The Pearson qualification numbers run from C00/5473/0 (Entry Level 1 Skills for Work Award) to C00/5474/4 (Level 2 Skills for Work Diploma) (Qualification titles, pages 3 to 4).
- The teaching content is not in the specification: "This can be found in the Teaching and Learning Support document for this unit" (Unit content, page 83). Pearson's mapping says that content covers "technology and AI impacts on jobs" and Welsh growth industries and data sources (Annexe E, page 129).
- Evidence is flexible: "there are no mandatory evidence requirements and centres can select the type of evidence" (page 83), and the self-assessment can be done "e.g. using a template or careers website" (Entry 3, page 83), so internet access helps but is not specified.
- Sources and AI must be acknowledged: learners certify "they have clearly referenced any sources and any artificial intelligence used" and "A learner will have committed malpractice if they use AI tools without acknowledging them." (page 85). This matters because learners research jobs online.
- Unlike the WJEC unit, Pearson's criteria do not ask learners to judge bias or reliability in sources; instead every level ends in a plan for adapting job choices, and Level 2 needs "realistic short- and long-term goals" (page 84).
- The Skills for Work specification says "Every unit in our Skills for Life qualifications includes an Authorised Assessment Brief" (page 8), a leftover reference to the Skills for Life suite.
Links with other qualifications
The WJEC Skills for Work unit Understanding the Changing Labour Market covers the same subject in 20 guided learning hours with three learning outcomes, and its Level 2 asks learners to judge the bias, accuracy and reliability of labour market information and to look at artificial intelligence, climate change and remote work. Pearson's 10 hour unit is narrower and more personal: learners research factors affecting jobs, complete a skills self-assessment and write a career plan with alternatives, so the digital work is research rather than evaluating sources. Supply and demand and the effect of technology on jobs link with GCSE Business. Within the WJEC Skills Suite, Jobs of the Future, Exploring Career Pathways and Working in Wales cover neighbouring careers ground, and Personal Development Planning also asks for goal setting.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Work Award, Certificate and Diploma specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfW 16: Understanding the changing labour market.