Institute for Employment Research » IER News & blogs (tag [blog])

Dr Sangwoo Lee's Expert Comment on ONS Labour Market Statistics (Nov 2025 - January 2026)

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 12:45:00 GMT

Dr Sangwoo Lee, Assistant Professor, Institute for Employment Research said "Today's release confirms a labour market in structural transition. Unemployment has risen to 5.2%, its highest since late 2020, even as economic inactivity continued declining to 20.7%. Rather than signalling genuine recovery, this pattern suggests a return to work that an increasingly slack labour market is struggling to absorb, with rising unemployment reflecting insufficient demand to accommodate those re-entering the workforce."

Dr Sangwoo Lee on the Latest ONS Employment Statistics

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 09:00:00 GMT

The latest UK labour market presents a mixed but increasingly concerning picture as structural pressures intensify. The unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in February-April 2025, up from 4.4% quarterly and marking the highest level since Q1 2021. The employment rate improved modestly to 75.1%, with economic inactivity declining to 21.3%.

Dr Sangwoo Lee on the Office for National Statistics Labour Market Update

Thu, 20 Mar 2025 15:00:00 GMT

The latest UK labour market data presents a mixed picture, with the employment rate showing modest improvement despite earlier indications of weakening demand. The unemployment rate has risen to 4.4%, continuing its upward trajectory, while the UK Claimant Count increased in February 2025. These suggest a persistent challenge of insufficient job creation, resulting in growing benefit dependency.

New blogs available at LMI for All

Thu, 27 Feb 2025 10:10:00 GMT

Dr Sangwoo Lee explores Understanding Society data to measure the multi-dimensional concept of job quality, and Graham Atwell revisits the implications of AI for the future of jobs.

Dr Sangwoo Lee on the latest ONS Labour Market Statistics

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 12:00:00 GMT

"While the employment rate remains steady at 74.9%, several indicators signal growing strains. Redundancies have risen by 67.8% year-on-year—increasing to 99,000 from 59,000, the proportion of long-term unemployment has grown significantly, and the unemployment rate has climbed to 4.3%. These developments reflect a fundamental structural adjustment in labour market conditions rather than a temporary fluctuation."

Myth busting ageing at work - Blog by Professor Philip Taylor

Fri, 29 Nov 2024 14:30:00 GMT

The ageing population has led to much public policy and debate about prolonging working lives to reduce welfare costs and respond to projected labour shortages as many workers retire. In this blog, Professor Philip Taylor of IER provides a myth-buster that draws on international evidence to challenge common misconceptions about ageing and work.

Appropriately defining and targeting ‘bad jobs’ as a pathway to ‘good jobs' - Blog by Sangwoo Lee

Wed, 25 Sep 2024 05:00:00 GMT

The new Labour Government is on a mission to grow the economy, with its primary aim focused on promoting fairness in employment, eradicating pay insecurity and offering more flexible working conditions. All of these objectives are tied to improving working conditions. As highlighted in a body of literature, including a recent study by the Institute for Employment Research (IER), good jobs with better job quality benefit both individual workers and society as a whole by boosting innovation, increasing productivity and improving individual wellbeing. The creation of more good jobs would support the Government's efforts to stimulate economic growth and generate the tax revenues necessary for public infrastructure investment, such as schools and hospitals. But what is the path towards creating more ‘good jobs’? How can we make meaningful progress in achieving better job quality?

Good jobs can help grow the economy - Blog by Emily Erickson and Chris Warhurst

Mon, 23 Sep 2024 07:00:00 GMT

The new Labour Government is on a mission to grow the economy. It needs to. The last government left schools crumbling, hospitals stretched to breaking point, roads that badly need repairing and far too many families living in poverty. Thousands more health workers, teachers, police and – dare it be said, armed forces personnel need to be recruited. All of these actions need to be funded. To do so, the government hopes to raise tax revenues by growing the economy through encouraging investment in house building and the green transition.

EU’s Pay Transparency Directive – A lost opportunity for the UK? Blog by Trine P. Larsen

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 06:00:00 GMT

It is nearly fifty years ago that the EU passed its first directive on equal pay for equal work or work of equal value. While mobilising the female workforce has been successful in most European countries, a persistent gender pay gap remains across Europe. To address these structurally embedded gender inequalities, the EU and its Members States have recently adopted the EU’s Pay Transparency Directive (2023). Although the UK is no longer an EU Member State and is not obliged to implement this directive, it remains to be seen whether the newly appointed Labour government will follow suit and adopt similar measures as part of its intention to address the pay inequalities in its election manifesto.

Chat-GPT and the UK Labour Market: A Year in Review - Blog by Dr Jeisson Cardenas-Rubio and Gianni Anelli-Lopez

Fri, 07 Jun 2024 09:30:00 GMT

A new LMI for All blog by Dr Jeisson Cardenas-Rubio and Gianni Anelli-Lopez on Chat-GPT and the UK Labour Market: A Year in Review extends on the analysis of their previous blog to show how things have developed over the past six months, incorporating fresh insights with data up to December 2023.