A shortened working week has been proposed to improve work-life balance, raise productivity and support recovery from the pandemic. Current trials can shed light on whether a four-day week may impose costs on employers and exacerbate labour market shortages. The idea of supporting the transition to a ‘four-day week’ – with no loss of pay […]
Category: Jobs, work, pay & benefits
Working from home has become more common during the pandemic, but only in certain sectors. The likelihood that the practice will be permanently adopted depends on perceptions of workforce productivity. Working from home has grabbed newspaper headlines since Covid-19 struck, with talk of a ‘revolution’ in working practices. This coverage can give the impression that […]
Mass job losses in the UK have been stemmed by the furlough schemes, although there have been notable declines in employment among younger age groups and in certain sectors. More labour market adjustment has come through reductions in hours worked than in past recessions. Over the ten months since the first lockdowns in response to […]
Furlough ends in September. What will happen to the millions of workers still on the scheme, especially those who are not recalled by their employer? What kind of support – in cash and job search assistance – is the government providing? At the end of March 2021, there were still around 4.2 million jobs furloughed […]
High temperatures and increased air pollution affect workers’ ability to do their jobs and can limit the hours they work. Productivity will take a further hit if these events become more frequent with climate change. Among the vast number of detrimental effects a warmer planet may have on humanity, one that has received less attention […]
Rates of economic inactivity have historically been high in Northern Ireland compared with the UK average. The pandemic led to increasing numbers of people out of work and not seeking employment across the country, but the impact was particularly acute in Northern Ireland. For several decades, Northern Ireland has had higher numbers of people who […]
India has been hit hard by the pandemic, particularly during the second wave of the virus in the spring of 2021. The sharp drop in GDP is the largest in the country’s history, but this may still underestimate the economic damage experienced by the poorest households. From April to June 2020, India’s GDP dropped by […]
Decades of growing wage inequality have raised concerns about the impact of technology on the US labour market. New analysis of ‘task displacement’ distinguishes contrasting effects of automation on workers. Not all robots are created equal: some do more harm than good. Over the past 40 years, earnings growth in the United States has been […]