New studies into the decline of the middle jobs – the hollowing out of the UK job market – were presented at a recent event hosted by the think tank The Resolution Foundation in London on 23 March
In common with other advanced economies, the UK has been characterised as having an ‘hourglass’ labour market in recent decades, with employment growth proving strongest in low and high paying sectors and weakest in the middle.
But what are the factors behind this polarisation – globalisation, education, the rise of the robots?
And has the downturn and recent recovery affected this process of ‘hollowing out’?
Dr Andrea Salvatori presented new ISER evidence from his ESRC funded study into job polarisation, which explores trends in the UK job market between 1972 and 2012.
Dr Craig Holmes from the Institute for New Economic Thinking at Oxford University presented his research into earnings.
Blog post by Laura Gardiner from the Resolution Foundation.
The anatomy of job polarisation in the UK by Andrea Salvatorifrom ISER