Monday 23 March 2015

Looking through the hourglass: Hollowing out of the UK jobs market pre- and post-crisis

In common with other advanced economies, the UK has been characterised as having an ‘hourglass’ labour market in recent decades, with employment growth proving strongest in low and high paying sectors and weakest in the middle.

But what are the factors behind this polarisation – globalisation, education, the rise of the robots? And has the downturn and recent recovery affected this process of ‘hollowing out’? What can we say about the implications for wages and for employment growth in the coming decade?

At an event at its central London headquarters, the Resolution Foundation and leading labour market academics from Oxford University and the University of Essex presented new research on this important topic, followed by a panel discussion and Q&A.