Introduction

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/instemplrighj.3.1.0009
• Pages: 9-13
• Published date: 01 January 2020
• Date: 01 January 2020

Introduction

9

Introduction

I

In the UK, the dismal plight of those who work (or seek to work) and

their families is the subject of regular reports from the Office for National

Statistics (ONS), comparative studies by international organisations such as

the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the

International Labour Organization (ILO), and in frequent research papers by

economists and other academics. Though this material is little-reported, the

workers themselves, those who seek work, and their dependents are well

aware of the bitter experience of working life in the UK today.

The UK workforce contains 32.34 million of our fellow citizens (another 1.42

million are looking for work). The conditions of life for them and the millions

more who are their dependents are deeply affected by the depressed level of

earnings of those in work, the limited amount of free time they have available

for their families, and the impact on family life of their feelings of insecurity,

lack of status and dissatisfaction with their working lives. And lurking in the

shadows is the prospect (or the fact) of virtual penury for those who fall out

of work.

The median wage is currently £23,200 annually. By definition, this means that

morethan 16million workersearn lessthan that.Indeed, 20%of workers

earn £15,000 or less. The real value of wages has not increased in a decade

and, save for the highest earners, is not expected to rise for at least another

decade (in the EU real wages have risen every year since 2013).1 Wages are so

low that most people receiving state benefits in the UK are actually in work.

Children living in poverty in working families has increased in number from

3.1 million a decade ago to 4.1 million today.

The gross inequalities in earnings between the many and the few and between

men and women in the UK significantly outstrips that on the continent. The

proportion of GDP going to profits has increased year-on-year for nearly 40

years,amirrorimageofthediminishingproportiongoingtowages(65.1%to

wagesin1976,fallingto 49.5%in2017–andthisincludes CEOsandprofes-

sional footballers). More British workers are falsely self-employed, on

zero-hourscontracts,orworkthroughagenciesthanareEurop eans.3.9mil-

lion workers are in insecure work, with precarious hours and precarious

income.