Idleness

Ashwin Kumar, Katy Jones

ISBN 10: 1788214544 / ISBN 13: 9781788214544

Edité par Edinburgh University Press, GB, 2022

A propos de cet article

UK workers are stuck in a low-pay, low-productivity rut, with far too many people working in poor quality, insecure jobs, with little training or chance of getting on. Katy Jones and Ashwin Kumar question the mantra that "work is the best way out of poverty" and examine the in-work poverty that now defines employment for many.The state's engagement with people out of work is shown to ignore the needs of lone parents and disabled people, and has little concern for skills and career progression. When coupled with the degradation of social infrastructure, such as child care and transport, the barriers to quality work can become insurmountable. Jones and Kumar's insightful analysis reveals the need to move away from positioning unemployment as a "behavioural problem" to be corrected by coercive labour market policies to one that considers the wider obstacles to better paid, quality jobs.

N° de réf. du vendeur LU-9781788214544

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Idleness
• Éditeur: Edinburgh University Press, GB
• Date de parution: 2022
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 1788214544
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9781788214544
• Reliure: Paperback
• État de l'article: New

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

We are stuck in a low-pay, low-productivity rut, with far too many people working in poor quality jobs, with barely any training and little chance of getting on. Dramatic growth in gig economy work has brought insecurity to the labour market in defiance of employment protections built up steadily since the Second World War. Underlying this crisis is the question of power. The balance between low-paid workers and employers has shifted decisively towards the latter. People feel trapped: trapped by the lack of options but, most of all, trapped by the lack of alternative jobs that offer a better future.

The state should have an interest in promoting good work, decent pay, and better progression: higher tax revenues and a happier population are two of the obvious benefits. But in truth, the state is part of the problem. Time and again, in its policies on unemployment, childcare, transport and skills, the state conspires to reduce the power of low-paid workers.

Katy Jones and Ashwin Kumar argue that we can create a world in which the state empowers workers: one in which the state is on the side of people trying to get on in life. However, they show that there is no easy route: it requires overturning orthodoxies and established thinking on productivity, skills, unemployment policy, transport and childcare. If the Beveridge report was about anything, it was about not tinkering around the edges: the big challenges have to be faced. To lift ourselves out of our low-pay, low-productivity rut requires similarly bold thinking – and hopefully this book makes a start.

À propos de l?auteur

Katy Jones is a Research Fellow in the Centre for Decent Work and Productivity at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has previously held research positions at The Work Foundation (part of Lancaster University) and the University of Salford. She has published widely on topics including youth unemployment, homelessness, welfare conditionality and skills.

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Ashwin Kumar is Professor of Social Policy at Manchester Metropolitan University. He has previously worked as Chief Economist at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Senior Economic Advisor at the Department for Work and Pensions and as an economic advisor to Gordon Brown.