September 2, 2019
One in three (30 percent) requests for flexible working are being turned down, according to a new TUC poll published today (Monday). The polling – published as children around the UK go back to school this week – reveals that flexible working is not available to many workers, and that people in working-class jobs are most likely to miss out on it. More →
August 23, 2019
A right leaning think tank’s suggestion that the UK should set a new retirement age of 75 and introduce a range of measures to extend people’s working lives to boost the economy and improve people’s wellbeing sparked an inevitable paroxysm of rage. Immediately followed by an equally inevitable and furious level of what passes for debate these days. A stramash the Scottish would call it. More →
August 8, 2019
Many aspects of the changing nature of work in the UK are highlighted in a new official report into the number of hours worked in the country. The UK’s ongoing productivity challenges, highlighted by another ONS report last month, are well known, but the new data suggests that a number of common suppositions about the way we work should be challenged, especially those related to demographics, the types of work people do and who does it. More →
August 6, 2019
On the surface, the wellbeing of the American worker seems rosy. Unemployment in the U.S. hovers near a 50-year low, and employers describe growing shortages of workers in a wide array of fields. But looking beyond the numbers tells a different story. My new book, “The Importance of Work in an Age of Uncertainty,” reveals that some Americans are experiencing an erosion in the world of increasingly uncertain work that is hurting their wellbeing, relationships and hopes for the future. More →
July 29, 2019
Although people have been talking about flexible working in one way or another for decades – the economist John Maynard Keynes declared in 1930 that technological advances would lead to a 15-hour working week – we may now be at the tipping point where work takes on an entirely different character. More →
July 22, 2019
New analysis by economists at PwC claims that, if the UK could match Sweden in terms of its employment rates for women aged 25-54, older workers and the proportion of its young people not in employment, education or training, the potential boost to UK GDP could be as much as 12 percent, or around £250 billion at 2018 values. Although the UK labour market has been strong in recent years – the employment rate is at a record high of over 75 percent and unemployment is at its lowest level since the mid 1970s – new research from PwC indicates that performance is middling compared to other OECD economies. A new composite Labour Market Performance index, combining results from PwC’s Youth Employment, Golden Age and Women in Work indices, finds the UK is 19th overall amongst OECD countries. Iceland and Sweden top the combined index rankings based on the latest available annual data for 2018. More →
July 9, 2019
New data from Rest Less claims that there are 3.4 million over 50s working part time today, an increase of 912,000 in a decade. The UK’s part time workforce age is rising, as is being driven by the over 50s more than any other age group, according to new analysis from Rest Less, a jobs, volunteering and advice site for the over 50s. More →
June 12, 2019
With a rising retirement age and the prediction that by 2020, a third of UK workers will be aged 50 or over, new research from job board Totaljobs and recruitment firm Robert Walters found that many workers in their 50s find their career options and development opportunities are extremely limited.
May 31, 2019
The last three months have seen steady growth in the number of advertised jobs on offer, despite Brexit uncertainty, according to the latest UK Job Market Report from Adzuna. Pay rates are also on the rise, as average UK advertised salaries have outpaced inflation rates of 2 percent. Compared to the average salary on offer in April 2017 (£32,678), wages have been boosted 9.3 percent. Competition for jobs has also fallen to a record low, with a ratio of 0.21 jobseekers per vacancy in April. This means there are around five times more jobs being advertised than workers looking for new roles, the highest rate recorded since Adzuna began collecting the data seven years ago. Competition for jobs is now significantly lower than the ratio of 0.43 jobseekers per vacancy recorded a year ago, with the talent war showing no signs of letting up.
May 28, 2019
Record numbers of over-70s are choosing work over retirement, according to new analysis from Rest Less, a membership community site in the UK to offer work and volunteering opportunities specifically targeted at the over 50s. Using bespoke data provided to Rest Less by the Office for National Statistics, Rest Less’s analysis claims that the number of over-70s in full or part-time employment has been steadily rising year on year over the past 10 years, reaching a peak of 497,946 in the first quarter of this year – an increase of 286,000 or 135 per cent since 2009. Today, nearly 1 in 12 (8.1 percent) of those in their 70s are working, a significant increase from the 1 in 22 (4.5 percent) there were 10 years ago.
May 7, 2019
Working Families and Bright Horizons have launched a new report which focuses on flexible working and the reality of flexible jobs from the perspective of working parents in the UK. According to the report, the experience of parents shows that flexible working is widespread, although patchy in some sectors and for some workers. It is beneficial in helping parents get a better work life fit, although it is not a panacea. Issues around job design, workloads and organisational culture undermine some of the benefits of flexibility, and proper management of flexibility to ensure it works is, for many parents, missing. More →
August 19, 2019
Firms need to place more value on older workers
by Claire Turner • Comment, Wellbeing, Working lives, Workplace
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