Jobs for the future: The path back to full employment in the UK

Article

A higher employment rate would in the long-term ease some of the problems faced by successive governments in the UK. It would mean higher taxes and lower welfare payments, simultaneously making balancing the budget easier and ensuring sufficient funds are available for universal services such as health and education.

However the path back to full employment will not be an easy one. Evidence suggests that the public sector has been filling in for insufficient private sector job creation over the last 20 years. One certainty in the next few years is that public sector employment will fall, so if private sector employment does not increase rapidly, the economic recovery is likely to be weak or not 'jobs rich'. As it stands, the Coalition government's plans for growth and job creation will be insufficient to meet the combined challenges of high unemployment and growing labour supply over the next few years..

This report's recommendations focus on promoting growth in employment and limiting the expansion of long-term unemployment.

Related items

  1. A sign for a polling station next to a block of flats

    Modernising elections: How to get voters back

    Elections are the defining feature of modern democracy. They are the process by which we express a desired future en masse. It is the mass dimension that matters most; it is the mass dimension that is receding.

  2. Bridge to the future: how to get the NHS through the winter and ready for reform

    NHS staff across the country are gritting their teeth. Christmas parties have come and gone, but a more threatening annual tradition looms once again – the NHS ‘winter crisis’. This period, renowned for long waits and increased mortality,…

  3. The great enabler: transport’s role in tackling environmental crises and delivering progressive change

    In this special issue of IPPR Progressive Review we bring together leading political, academic and civil society thinkers to consider transport in modern Britain and its role in delivering a healthier, greener, more prosperous and…