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On 14 September, Dr Sangwoo Lee presented at an expert roundtable hosted by the British Academy.  Sharing findings from his recent research on multidimensional graduate job quality premiums across the UK and Europe, he argued that conventional evaluative metrics, which rely heavily on gross earnings and standard employment status, fail to capture the realities of modern graduate employment.

IER was also represented at the roundtable by Professor Peter Elias and Gabriel Atfield, contributing to discussions on skills, regional inequality, and the future data infrastructure needed to assess fair and sustainable work across the UK.

The study, titled "" challenges conventional narratives that technological exposure alone dictates workforce outcomes. The research maps how worker-led AI tool usage and employer-led algorithmic management collide to create deeply stratified workplace realities.

Ultimately, the analysis indicates that supply-side policy frameworks focusing solely on worker upskilling or expanding technology access have structural limitations. Dr Lee demonstrates that without directly regulating algorithmic monitoring and control practices, expanding AI access risks simply transitioning more workers into high-intensity, highly managed configurations rather than genuinely empowering them.

The European Commission is keen to deliver a Quality Jobs Roadmap. Director of IER, Chris Warhurst was invited to speak at a Cedefop in Thessaloniki in June.

Attended by European employers, trade unions and policymakers, the event focused on the skills nexus between productivity and job quality, with Chris presenting data on the link between job quality and innovation and productivity as part of building the business case for good jobs.

IER's Dr Sangwoo LeeLink opens in a new window and Prof Chris WarhurstLink opens in a new window, alongside Prof Angela Knox Link opens in a new window(University of Sydney) and Dr Sally Wright (University of Sheffield), have published a new article titled "". It draws on survey data from 427 Australian hospitality workers to examine how six dimensions of job quality relate to workers' self-rated general health, and whether these relationships vary by gender.

The findings point to the need for structural, job-level interventions, for instance, stronger workplace representation, reduced employment insecurity, expanded training and progression, and improved pay, alongside gender-sensitive measures targeting autonomy for female workers and social support for male workers.

±õ·¡¸é’s Dr Sangwoo Lee recently shared insights at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2026 conference in Los Angeles and at the Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE) 2026 conference in Oxford, challenging traditional views on the value of a university degree.

His research, "Beyond Earnings: The Multidimensional Job Quality Premiums for University Graduates in Europe," explores whether higher education truly delivers better working conditions across non-monetary dimensions.