The Department of Trade and Industry published its Autumn Performance Report for 2004, showing progress against public service agreement targets.
Source: Autumn Performance Report 2004, Cm 6422, Department of Trade and Industry, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Dec
A report set out what had been achieved since the publication in 2002 of an action plan on employability and long-term unemployment in Northern Ireland.
Source: Taskforce on Employability and Long-term Unemployment, First Review and Progress Report, Department for Employment and Learning/Northern Ireland Executive (028 9025 7777)
Links: Report (pdf) | NIE press release
Date: 2004-Dec
A trade union report said that the case for an economy fuelled by a flexible workforce, that could be hired and fired at will, was based on a selective analysis of the United States economy and a string of myths about successful job markets.
Source: Building a Modern Labour Market, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report (pdf) | TUC press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Nov
A report drew together a range of studies about welfare reform and related issues since the 1990s, and provided an assessment of the progress made. Although progress had been made in removing barriers to work, the aims of reform needed to be broadened. The needs of people remaining outside work needed to be recognized not least through a proper system for raising benefits in line with growing prosperity. But people who had crossed the line into work could not just be forgotten, since many ended up in insecure, low-paid employment with little chance for progression - measures were needed to improve job quality, prospects and incentives for this group.
Source: Donald Hirsch with Jane Millar, Labour s Welfare Reform: Progress to date, Foundations 44, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (01904 629241)
Links: JRF Foundations N44 | JRF press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Nov
The government published its response to the European Union Employment Guidelines for 2004, and summarized the 'substantial progress' made by the United Kingdom since the start of the Luxembourg process in 1997.
Source: UK National Action Plan for Employment 2004, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: Report (pdf) | Annexes (pdf)
Date: 2004-Oct
The government announced a package of measures designed to tackle persistent pockets of worklessness, following publication of a report which highlighted the problems of 'residential sorting' of unemployed people into particular areas. Measures included promotion of low-cost home ownership through job centres, to give people a stake in their communities and act as a work incentive; more help for people wanting to leave benefits and become self-employed; guidance for social landlords on how to create mixed communities; greater use of outreach services and community-based advisers to help people facing the most complex problems; and adapting business support services to help those with unregistered businesses to become legitimate.
Source: Jobs and Enterprise in Deprived Areas, Social Exclusion Unit/Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (020 7944 8133)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | ODPM press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Sep
The Trade and Industry Secretary set out an agenda of workplace reforms for the government in a third term. It addressed three key issues: extending work to groups and areas still suffering from high unemployment; improving the quality, not just the quantity, of work, and responding to growing concerns about workplace stress; and extending equality for ethnic minorities, women and disabled people, and increasing diversity.
Source: Patricia Hewitt MP, Unfinished Business: The new agenda for the workplace, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Links: Report (pdf) | EOC press release | BBC report
Date: 2004-Sep
A new book examined the impact of labour and product market reforms in the United Kingdom during the 1980s and 1990s on productivity, employment and inequality. It considered how the United Kingdom managed to stave off falling earnings for lower-paid workers; the role of the reforms in increasing income inequality and poverty; and the effect of the reforms on reduced unemployment and the accelerated growth of real wages.
Source: David Card, Richard Blundell and Richard Freeman (eds.), Seeking a Premier Economy: The economic effects of British economic reforms, 1980-2000, University of Chicago Press (01243 779777)
Links: Summary
Date: 2004-Jul
A think-tank report said that many of the government's claims about its handling of the economy were either misleading or wrong. In particular, the claim that the New Deal had helped a million people to find jobs had no basis in fact. But the report said that the British economy had performed 'reasonably well' under Gordon Brown s Chancellorship.
Source: Keith Marsden, Gordon Brown s Boasts: How well has the Chancellor really performed?, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Jul
A paper called for a much more pro-active job placement service and clearer conditionality on unemployment benefits, combined with a guarantee of work within a year of someone becoming unemployed (through a mix of subsidies, supported work, and training). The correct response to low pay was in-work benefits, together with a long-term strategy to reduce low skill levels.
Source: Richard Layard, Good Jobs and Bad Jobs, Occasional Paper 19, Centre for Economic Performance/London School of Economics (020 7955 7673)
Links: Paper (pdf) | Abstract
Date: 2004-May
The Department of Trade and Industry published its annual departmental report for 2003-04.
Source: Departmental Report 2004, Cm 6216, Department of Trade and Industry, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-May
An article said that greater labour market flexibility might reduce unemployment: but it could also be detrimental to innovation and productivity. Policy makers faced a fundamental trade-off between less unemployment and more innovative activities.
Source: Justus Haucap and Christian Wey, 'Unionisation Structures and Innovation Incentives , Economic Journal, March 2004, Royal Economic Society (0117 983 9770)
Links: RES press release
Date: 2004-Mar
A report said that recent monetary policy had helped control inflation which, in turn, had kept unemployment rates low. Wage rises had a greater detrimental impact on employment levels when monetary policies were aimed at stabilising inflation, and unions should change their stance on interest rate control and its perceived negative impact on employment rates.
Source: Christopher Martin and George Bratsiotis, Have Inflation Targets Reduced the Natural Rate of Unemployment?, Economic and Social Research Council (01793 413000)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | ESRC press release
Date: 2004-Mar
A report said that if high overall unemployment in Europe were to be reduced, a number of large countries would have to learn from the experience of others, including the United Kingdom. It was a 'profound error' to think that the only way to reduce unemployment was to reduce - rather than increase - the number of people looking for work.
Source: Jaap de Koning, Richard Layard, Stephen Nickell and Niels Westergaard-Nielsen, Policies for Full Employment, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: Report (pdf) | DWP press release
Date: 2004-Mar
A report set out the action taken by the United Kingdom government by the end of 2003 to meet its employment policy obligations under European Union treaties (since the start of the 'Luxembourg process' in 1997). It said that 'substantial progress' had been made, but further action was needed.
Source: United Kingdom Employment Action Plan 2003: Report on the principal measures undertaken by the UK to implement its employment policy in line with Article 128(3) of the EU Treaty, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7962 8176)
Links: Report (pdf) | Annexes (pdf)
Date: 2004-Feb
Trade unions said that, in order to achieve full employment and economic growth, the government s Spending Review 2004 should focus on getting into employment the two million people who said they wanted a job but who were not in work and were not classed as unemployed.
Source: Full Employment: The Next Steps - Inactive Britain, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release
Date: 2004-Jan
A new book examined the impact of the Labour government's policies on the labour market since 1997, including the minimum wage, the New Deal, the working families tax credit scheme, policies on lone parents, and changes in the education system.
Source: Richard Dickens, Paul Gregg and Jonathan Wadsworth (eds.), The Labour Market Under New Labour: The state of working Britain, Palgrave Macmillan (01256 329242)
Links: Summary
Date: 2004-Jan
The Employment Relations Bill was given a second reading. The government pledged that no employer would be entitled to sack a striking worker without first going to the conciliation service in a serious attempt to settle any dispute.
Source: Employment Relations Bill, Department of Trade and Industry, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 14 January 2004, columns 818-931, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory note | Hansard | HOC briefing paper (pdf) | IOD press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2)
Date: 2004-Jan