The UK Insecure Work Index: two decades of insecurity
New in-depth analysis of UK job market data reveals women, disabled people, ethnic minorities and young workers have been consistently affected by insecure employment over the last twenty years.
The Work Foundation is the leading think tank for improving work in the UK. We have been an authoritative, independent source of ideas and analysis on the labour market and the wider economy for over a hundred years.
New in-depth analysis of UK job market data reveals women, disabled people, ethnic minorities and young workers have been consistently affected by insecure employment over the last twenty years.
The Covid-19 pandemic has fundamentally shifted the way in which people work, with a rise in remote and hybrid working. While many workers, businesses and sectors have benefited from changing working practices during the pandemic, disabled people bore the brunt of the pandemic’s economic consequences and experienced higher rates of unemployment and redundancies than non-disabled people.
As the cost-of-living crisis continues to escalate, workers across all sectors and employment types are increasingly facing tough decisions. Our Director, Ben Harrison, reflects on taking part in the BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme, and on the challenges facing workers and the Government.
The latest labour market data continues to show a very mixed picture. While employment levels have increased, we are also seeing the biggest drop in real terms pay since 2001, employers struggling to recruit, and stubbornly high levels of economic inactivity due to long-term sickness.
This guide to digital boundaries and disconnection at work, produced jointly by the Work Foundation and Prospect, explores the implications of an 'always on' culture for businesses, teams and individuals, and lays out key principles to help employers develop their own approaches that support workers to fully disengage from work outside of core hours and when on leave.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published a response to its employment status consultation, designed to understand if changes to the law were required in order to ensure everyone who is entitled to key employment rights and protections has access to them. While acknowledging the failings of the current system, Government has decided not to change it. This consultation represented a significant opportunity which now appears to have been missed.
The Covid-19 pandemic prompted a surge in demand for courier and food delivery services in the UK. However, gig work is highly financially insecure. Recent research from Lancaster University highlights how unpaid waiting time plays a significant role in lowering average earnings for bike couriers and suggests new avenues to shift power to couriers.
Family businesses employ 14 million people in the UK, accounting for roughly half of all private sector employment. And given how they are constituted and the longevity that many have enjoyed, they may also have lessons to teach us about how to be resilient to changes in the labour market and the economy more widely.
These two briefings that set out the policy implications of research were undertaken to assess the drivers of digital poverty among rural communities in the North West of England, with recommendation set out both for regional and national policy makers.
🏆 #ResearchOfTheWeek goes to @wagestream for their new report - it looks at workers’ financial wellbeing through the lens of rising costs & how employers have responded to the crisis and what their impact has been on workers’ financial wellbeing. (1/6) https://t.co/cKjONFXSGu https://t.co/fDeYKJIYFb
.@wagestream found that 28% of employees worry daily about money, 38% reduced the amount they save & 20% have increased their use of credit. To support employees, the Government and employers should work together. @asliatayy wrote our reflections🔽 https://t.co/gXfYzvYGbo
RT @CsthatWork: The @WorkFoundation published a report using qualitative interviews to explore how the welfare system impacts access to training opportunities, and how these barriers 🚧can be removed. A very interesting read, please check out below⬇️ https://t.co/URLqaprNxP
This week, #ResearchOfTheWeek goes to @FocusOnLabour, for their latest report highlighting the risks of exploitation for live-in migrant care workers ⬇️(1/6) https://t.co/2R09j4zXQa https://t.co/EZnQ4hGRZL