30 June 2017

Government jobs tsar Matthew Taylor has told the Trades Union Congress that the UK’s labour market is the “envy” of other European countries, according to the Telegraph.

This is despite the fact the UK is the most unequal country in Europe in terms of wage inequality; the average Briton workers longer hours a day, more days a week, more years in their lifetime, and receives a lower pension when they retire than most of their European counterparts; and can expect lower levels of education and training, fewer paid holidays, and lower compensation for redundancy, sick and parental leave.

A greater proportion of UK workers live in poverty than on the mainland, and the state is forced to subsidise wages more so than anywhere else in Europe.

“Many countries around Europe envy the position we’re in,” Taylor was quoted by the newspaper as saying at the TUC conference earlier this week.

He described the ‘flexible’ labour market as “flourishing” and said it was one of the country’s biggest strengths, citing research to show that only a third of gig workers are unhappy with the arrangement they are in.

“Of course you can just ban certain types of flexibility, and that will stop the exploitation, but if at the same time, you’re actually stopping two-thirds of people or three-quarters of people from working in ways that they want to, then that’s not a good way to conduct public policymaking,” he said.

Taylor said his review will be published in a fortnight, and has previously said it will include such recommendations as providing workers with the right to request guaranteed hours. The Institute of Employment Rights argues that the right to request is not the same as the right to receive and many insecure workers may feel under pressure not to rock the boat by asking at all, so such proposals will provide workers with ‘rights’ in name only.