Employment
How the word ‘gig’ found a new outlet in the gig economy
In the same song where the brilliant lyricist Ian Dury gave the world the couplet, ‘I could be a writer…
The BBC sisterhood has made the ultimate sacrifice – and asked for a pay rise
The sisterhood is, apparently, ‘in full flow’ at the BBC. Since the publication last week of the salaries of its…
Unemployment is at its lowest since 1975. Can someone tell the Tories?
British government may not be strong and stable but the economy is still the most formidable job creating machine in…
Unemployment falls – but so does pay growth
The unemployment rate fell to 5.1 per cent in the three months to November, putting it at the lowest level…
Employment figures show 42,000 more people in work
Employment figures out today show that the number of people in work rose by 42,000 in the three months to…
Is the jobs miracle over?
No self-congratulatory tweets from George Osborne this morning: The UK has seen its first quarter-on-quarter rise in unemployment for two…
How George Osborne’s Budget makes work pay less
In his Budget, the Chancellor claimed that ‘those currently on the minimum wage will see their pay rise by over…
Why doesn’t Osborne admit the link between the jobs miracle and slowing down deficit reduction?
Will George Osborne come ever clean about his successes? I caught up with the Chancellor in Leeds today and asked him…
The real scandal of zero-hours contracts: HMRC’s greed
Cue the Guardian headlines of ‘exploitation’ in ‘Dickensian’ Britain. Nearly 700,000 people are now working on zero-hours contracts, a rise…
The British economic recovery, in 12 graphs
Everything seems to be falling into place ahead of the election for the Tories. Today’s data shows high street spending…
Labour might not like to admit it but economic growth has created an employment boom
With 105 days to go until the General Election, politicians of all sides will be slugging it out between now…
Rachel Reeves’s ‘staggering’ and ‘astonishing’ future of welfare speech
Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, gave a speech earlier this week on the future of the welfare…
A bold plan to make welfare more personalised and responsive
Jobs must surely be one of the great success stories of this government: 1.8 million more people in work, and…
Liam Byrne’s burger flip
‘As someone who started work behind a fry station in McDonald’s, I know that any job is better than no…
Spectator Event report: Will artificial intelligence put my job at risk?
Will computers make humans redundant? It might be the biggest question of our time. Last night Spectator Events, in partnership with…
Debate: will a robot steal your job?
Was Karl Marx right all along about capitalism? One of the subjects I like to bore everyone about whenever I…
Will Artificial Intelligence put my job at risk?
Ever since the onset of artificial intelligence – simulating human reasoning, problem solving – there has been worry about the…
Will Artificial Intelligence put my job at risk?
I used to feel smug when plumbers, bricklayers and the like used to complain of Eastern European migrants coming over…
In defence of Kirstie Allsopp
Kirstie Allsopp was yesterday quoted in the Telegraph saying that women should shun university in favour of buying a flat…
Tax Freedom Day is a reminder of the choice in 2015: high tax Labour, low tax Conservatives
Tax Freedom Day, which falls today, is cause for celebration. It marks the point in the calendar when someone’s income…
Labour market flexibility and dignity
Two front pages today report what they see as bad news, and both stories are certainly ones politicians need to…
New Labour’s greatest failure
My friend and critic Jonathan Portes obviously took exception to my remarks about Keynesianism having been disproven. His entertaining rebuttal…
France – worker’s paradise or Steynian Dystopia?
Un autre jour glorieux dans la lutte contre réalité économique. France’s major employers’ federation and two unions have signed an…
The minimum wage is broken – here’s how to fix it
While welcoming George Osborne’s emphasis this week on raising employment, I have some caveats about his target – to have…
The Conservatives’ moral mission: jobs, jobs, jobs
Remember Labour’s defining mission: ‘education, education, education’? Yesterday we had the Conservative equivalent ‘jobs, jobs, jobs’. In what some might…
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