Labour market A tight labour market, but early signs of cooling 14 June 2022 by Nye Cominetti This morning’s labour market statistics from the ONS showed a familiar picture of a tight labour market alongside a deepening real wage squeeze. But there are also some signs of a turning point, with wider economic weakness at the start of 2022 potentially feeding into softening labour demand. A now familiar picture of a tight … Continued READ MORE
Jobs· Labour market· Pay Unemployment hits a record low but pay is still falling in real terms 17 May 2022 by Greg Thwaites Tuesday’s labour market data contained good news on unemployment, which fell to its lowest level in 50 years, but bad news on real pay, which is falling and set to fall faster. There are very early signs that labour-force participation might be starting to reverse the huge falls we have seen since the pandemic, but … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Labour market tight, household budgets tighter 15 March 2022 by Greg Thwaites Tuesday’s labour market data showed that many of the trends of recent months remain in play. The labour market tightened further, participation continued to disappoint and real pay packets kept falling, while nominal pay growth hasn’t yet shown clear signs of accelerating. The labour market is tight The labour market is now very tight on … Continued READ MORE
Jobs· Labour market· Skills Good headline news on NEETs hides a worrying rise in economically inactive young men 24 February 2022 by Louise Murphy and Kathleen Henehan This morning the ONS published the latest figures outlining the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). Overall 692,000 16-24-year-olds (10.2 per cent), including 642,000 18-24-year-olds (12 per cent), found themselves NEET at the end of last year. On the surface, this is worth celebrating: the number and proportion … Continued READ MORE
Migration If fewer workers migrate to Britain, our own will need greater mobility Migration policy can complement an economic strategy, but it can’t stand in for one. 23 February 2022 by Kathleen Henehan One of the main benefits often cited of leaving the European Union was that the UK regained control of its borders, with the Prime Minister arguing that bringing in a more controlled migration regime would be key to enabling the UK to become a high wage economy. Others fear that the shift to a new, … Continued READ MORE
Jobs· Labour market· Pay January’s labour market data confirms 2022 will be the year of the pay squeeze 18 January 2022 by Nye Cominetti The big news in this morning’s labour market stats was confirmation that pay is now falling in real terms – the pay squeeze will be one of the defining features of 2022. There is better news on jobs, with falling unemployment suggesting the labour market continues to tighten, but vacancies have fallen from their high … Continued READ MORE
Ventures· Jobs· Job quality and security Influencing employers roundtable: helping employers improve the quality of work they offer 3 December 2021 by Emma Selinger Executive summary One of the ways for Workertech to have an impact on low-paid workers is by developing new tools and incentives that encourage businesses to improve the quality of employment. In October the Resolution Foundation brought together some leading organisations with experience of influencing employers via standards and accreditation to improve the quality of … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Two-and-a-half cheers for the UK’s post-furlough labour market 16 November 2021 by Greg Thwaites There is plenty to celebrate in today’s labour market data. As the end of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme approached in September, we saw rising employment (up to 75.4 per cent), falling unemployment (down to 4.3 per cent – see Figure 1 for both) and a record number of people moving into new jobs – … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Jobs· Living standards· Labour market Who is still on furlough and what will happen next? 30 September 2021 by Torsten Bell The past 18 months have been full of surprises, all too often on the downside. But as well as the miracle of vaccines, we should also celebrate the triumph of the coronavirus job retention scheme (JRS), or furlough as we’ve come to know it. Turn the clock back to early 2020, and who’d have guessed … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Jobs· Intergenerational Centre Three reasons to be concerned about job losses among older workers A U-Shaped crisis 29 April 2021 by Nye Cominetti Young people have been at the epicentre of the Covid-19 crisis. The severe restrictions and lockdown closures of social sectors of the economy – such as hospitality, retail, arts and leisure, where young workers are concentrated – has led millions of our youngest workers to be put on furlough or, worse still, lose their jobs. … Continued READ MORE
Ventures· Jobs· Job quality and security Introducing the Workertech Partnership Backing a new wave of innovators who will harness technology to improve the prospects, power and choices of workers 10 November 2020 by Louise Marston The world of work was already changing rapidly before the crisis, with rising use of automation and increasing levels of insecure work. Coronavirus has highlighted how exposed many people are to changes in hours, lack of health and safety protections, and how few opportunities there are for flexible employment that works for families. The coronavirus … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Jobs· Labour market The Chancellor has prevented a grim winter of redundancies – but has failed to fix the faults with his jobs support package 6 November 2020 by Mike Brewer On Thursday, Rishi Sunak announced that the Job Retention Scheme – where employees can be put on furlough and still get 80 per cent of their wages covered by the government – will continue to the end of March. Self-employed workers can get another three-month grant of 80 per cent of their pre-crisis profits. There … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Labour market Millions of furloughed workers have returned to work – but support for hard-hit sectors will be needed beyond October Analysing the HMRC Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme data 21 August 2020 by Nye Cominetti This morning, HMRC published its latest round of statistics on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (JRS). For the first time, we have a time series of the number of furloughed workers, as opposed to the cumulative total, meaning we can see how use of the scheme has evolved since the start of April. Here are … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Labour market Any further questions? From 'The Full Monty: Facing up to the scale of the COVID-19 jobs crisis' 29 June 2020 by Hannah Slaughter We often have more questions submitted for our event Q&A sessions than we’re able to answer. Where this is the case, we’ll endeavour to respond to a selection of the most interesting or most representative questions that went unanswered. The questions below were submitted to our panel for the event The Full Monty: Facing up … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Labour market Three big decisions for the Chancellor on the future of the Job Retention Scheme 28 May 2020 by Daniel Tomlinson The Chancellor will be announcing details for ‘Phase 2’ of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (JRS) later today or tomorrow. With 8.4 million jobs furloughed – one-third of all private sector employees – any changes to the JRS will have a big impact both on the scale of the unemployment crisis and on the speed … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Labour market Five things we’ve learned from today’s labour market data 19 May 2020 by Hannah Slaughter and Nye Cominetti This morning the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the first major set of labour market data that covers the lockdown period, with data from April on vacancies, claimant unemployment, and employee jobs. Of course, the scale of the crisis has been clear for some time in other data – including Universal Credit claims and … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Skills· Apprenticeships Any further questions? From the event 'The corona class of 2020: How to support young people leaving education amid the crisis' 12 May 2020 by Kathleen Henehan We often have more questions submitted for our event Q&A sessions than we’re able to answer. Where this is the case, we’ll endeavour to respond to a selection of the most interesting or most representative questions that went unanswered. The questions below were submitted to our panel for the event The corona class of 2020: … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Jobs· Labour market Unprecedented support for employees’ wages last week has been followed up by equally significant, and even more generous, support for the self-employed. But gaps remain 27 March 2020 by Torsten Bell and Mike Brewer and Laura Gardiner and Karl Handscomb and Daniel Tomlinson Yesterday, the Chancellor announced that last week’s pledge to underwrite 80 per cent of the wages of employees without work to do during this crisis is being matched with significant grants to the self-employed. This is an important addition to existing plans to support employees, and in many ways a more generous offer. The Self-Employed … Continued READ MORE
Coronavirus· Living standards· Incomes· Jobs· Labour market· Welfare Key take-aways from the Chancellor’s package of measures to support workers in the coronavirus crisis 22 March 2020 by Mike Brewer and Laura Gardiner The Chancellor’s announcements on Friday 20 March were unprecedented in their scale and reach, and absolutely vital for supporting firms and family incomes in the face of the current crisis. Here are five key take-aways on how these changes will affect families, and three next steps for the Government to consider. 1. At a … Continued READ MORE
Skills· Apprenticeships Is the government’s apprenticeships strategy set to change? Changing policy context could prove welcome if it means focusing Levy funds on the people that really need Apprenticeships 2 March 2020 by Kathleen Henehan While the latest data on apprenticeship starts don’t show much change on previous months – down on recent years, with the number going to older apprentices at higher levels of study is up – the backdrop to apprenticeships has changed. For a start, we have a new Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills, who … Continued READ MORE
Zero-hour contracts· Labour market· Pay A record-breaking labour market – but not all records are welcome 18 February 2020 by Nye Cominetti This morning’s labour market statistics broke records left and right. Mostly this was good news, with a new high on the employment rate and a (belated) return to peak pay. But as Linford Christie famously said, if you want to be a record breaker … it’s a good idea to look at the full range … Continued READ MORE
Labour market· Skills· Apprenticeships The new government needs to focus on the alarming fall in apprenticeship starts 3 February 2020 by Kathleen Henehan With a new year, a new-ish government and the country soon to (officially) exit the European Union, there’s hope that policy makers will renew their focus on domestic concerns. And given the figures published today (Thursday) showing an alarming fall in apprenticeship starts – a greater focus on this issue would be a good place … Continued READ MORE
Jobs· Labour market· Pay 2019 has been a good year for employment and earnings 17 December 2019 by Nye Cominetti New ONS data out today – the last of 2019 – shows that we’ve approached the end of the year with the labour market in, to coin a phrase, a strong and stable position. Strong because employment remains at record levels – hitting a new high in the three months to October of 76.2 per … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Jobs· Living standards· Labour market· Pay· Inequality & poverty· Cities and regions· Political parties and elections Election 2019: how Britain’s North-South divide is changing Closing the divide once and for all is a challenge all political parties say they want to embrace 6 December 2019 by Charlie McCurdy The North-South divide is a theme often used by – and against – politicians to highlight inequality in the UK, and election time is no exception. But this divide has evolved over time, and is by no means the only geographical divide in the country. The big economic divide Productivity – or how efficiently … Continued READ MORE
Skills· Apprenticeships· Political parties and elections Apprenticeships and adult education: how do the major parties compare? Latest Department for Education figures show the problems that need addressing 1 December 2019 by Kathleen Henehan While big rows over Brexit and the size of state we want have tended to dominate the news cycle over recent weeks, the 2019 general election campaign hasn’t been entirely devoid of skills policy. In fact, the Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative Party manifestos all include bold – albeit thinly detailed – proposals on apprenticeships … Continued READ MORE
