Employment in the Lean Years : Policy and Prospects for the Next Decade

Chapters by leading experts on unemployment, immigration, pay, and trade unions discuss what can be learned from the past two decades, and what should be done now to tackle Britain's current labour market problems, arguing for a more targeted approach to tackle unemployment, exclusion, and inequality consistent with today's tight public budgets.

Over the last fifteen years, the deregulation of Britain''s labour market has led to economic growth, employment opportunities, and a more diverse workforce: the ''fat years''. However, now as Britain faces its lean years with job cuts, rising unemployment, income insecurity, and related social strains, how can and should the government and key labour market policy makers ensure the labour market provides job opportunities and reasonable levels of social justice? The fundamental changes that have occurred in labour market institutions mean that ''solutions'' of previous decades no longer work. This volume sets out to address the major challenges faced: - Unemployment, immigration, housing and job subsidies- Key institutional changes, such as the decline of collective regulation and the rise of occupational licensing- Pay inequality and minimum wages- Pay and subsidies in the private and public sectorContributions from leading experts in the field employ the latest theory and empirical research to examine a different set of problems and the policies that could help to resolve them.