The flaws of the UK labour market won’t solve themselves
a post by Gavin Kelly for the Resolution Foundation blog
The UK labour market is lauded for reaching record levels of employment at the same time as it is lacerated for the insecurities that are said to be its central feature.
Two things can, however, be true at once: an economy can be job-rich at the same time as too many of its workers are wage-poor and insecure. The fact that these problems persist in a tight labour market at the mature phase of the economic cycle suggests the shortcomings of the UK model won’t solve themselves.
When minds turn to improving aspects of Britain’s labour market, the temptation is always to cherry-pick desirable features from other systems — Danish “flexicurity” [link to the Financial Times behind a firewall], German training or Japanese management. Seasoned observers, however, express scepticism. Anglo-Saxon capitalism [another one form the Financial Times], it’s argued, is just different. The virtues of other models can’t just be bolted on.
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