Principal Economist

Communities & Skills

Collaborative, open, inclusive and fair - we work with and through partners to ensure Londoners can shape healthy, empowered and productive lives. Communities and Skills is led by Executive Director, Tunde Olayinka and is comprised of the following units:
Young London and Communities, Social and Economic Inclusion, Skills and Employment, Public Health and Performance and Improvement.

The Insights Team, established in 2020, is a specialist economics team that supports policy development and programme delivery across the Skills and Employment (S&E) Unit. Since then, the team has built a strong reputation for delivering high-quality evidence, analysis and research that informs decision-making across the GLA’s skills and employment agenda. The team plays a key role in sharing insights and evidence to support data-driven policy making and programme delivery across London, working closely with stakeholders including the Department for Education (DfE), Skills England, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), London Councils, providers and other sector partners.

The team sits at the heart of the Unit’s analytical function, providing the evidence base for major policy developments, managing and analysing key skills datasets, publishing official statistics, supporting programme evaluation, and responding to a wide range of strategic and operational analytical needs. Its work spans skills funding, learner outcomes, labour market participation, programme performance, cost-benefit analysis, research commissioning, and the monitoring and evaluation of skills and employment programmes.

Through this work, the team helps ensure that policy, commissioning and investment decisions are grounded in robust evidence and a strong understanding of London’s skills and labour market landscape.

The Principal Economist provides expert economic analysis and evidence to support the development, delivery and evaluation of a wide range of skills and employment policies and programmes led by the Greater London Authority (GLA), including the Adult Skills Fund (ASF), Skills Bootcamps and Connect to Work. The role is responsible for ensuring that policy and programme delivery are informed by robust analysis, high-quality evidence and a strong understanding of London’s skills system, labour market and wider economic challenges.

Working within the Insights Team, the postholder will play a key role in delivering the analytical function of the Skills and Employment Unit. This includes managing and analysing major skills datasets, producing official statistics, supporting programme evaluation, undertaking economic appraisal and cost-benefit analysis, and responding to strategic and operational evidence needs. The role also involves working closely with colleagues across the GLA and external stakeholders, including government departments, London Councils, providers and sector partners, to support evidence-based policy making and improve outcomes for Londoners.

The Principal Economist will:

• Provide high quality economic information, analysis and advice to inform the GLA’s skills and employment strategy and policy development, with a focus on supporting the GLA’s on-going responsibility of adult skills provision and funding.
• Lead on research projects and initiatives commissioned by the GLA. These are likely to involve joint working with other teams, organisations and sectors.
• Analyse complex datasets, including the Individualised Learner Record (ILR), Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data and the London Learner Survey, to support evidence-based policy making and programme delivery.
• Help the GLA identify and articulate its requirements for economic and statistical data to support skills and employment provision across London to ensure these needs are effectively met. Contribute to the development of a more open, accessible and evidence-driven approach to data on skills, qualifications, learner progression and earnings, helping to improve decision-making and outcomes for Londoners, employers and policymakers, while ensuring that appropriate standards of data…