Yesterday saw the first meeting of the government’s new Labour Market Advisory Board, which will work to tackle the ‘greatest employment challenge for a generation.’
The board will be made up of experts from across business, academia, and industrial relations that have been appointed by Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall. As part of the first meeting, new approaches were offered to the government on how economic inactivity can be tackled, how to get people back into work, and how the government’s ambition of an 80% employment rate can be reached.
The Work and Pensions Secretary said:
“Spiralling inactivity is the greatest employment challenge for a generation, with a near record 2.8 million people out of work due to long-term sickness.
“Addressing these challenges will take time, but we’re going to fix the foundations of the economy and tackle economic inactivity.
“The board’s knowledge, expertise and insight will help us to rebuild Britain as we deliver our growth mission, drive up opportunity and make every part of the country better off.”
Moving forward, the board will support the Secretary of State by developing new ideas and initiatives to bring down economic inactivity levels. This comes as the UK is the only G7 country whose employment and inactivity rates haven’t returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Some of the organisations that are represented on the board include:
- Resolution Foundation
- Health Foundation
- The House of Lords
Chair of the Board, Paul Gregg, also commented:
“Having studied the UK’s labour market across several decades, it is clear that the current labour market faces a deep-seated set of challenges.
“We have seen a sharp increase in economic inactivity and long-term sickness, most notably in our young people post-pandemic. Further, real wage growth has been heavily supressed for 15 years hitting living standards and government tax revenues. Reversing these trends will be key to ensuring the long-term prosperity of the UK’s labour market.
“I look forward to working with members of the board and the Secretary of State to support her vision for growth and examining positive solutions to address inactivity and harness the true potential of the UK’s labour market.”
Image credit: iStock
