Last summer a wave of strikes began, which still continues. This has mainly affected the public sector, with the NHS, … Continue reading “What are the real costs of the recent strike wave?”

Jobs in today’s Britain are dramatically more attractive than even in the recent past. Pay in real terms is two … Continue reading “Beware the unseen consequences of labour market regulation”

What is it with Oxfam? This huge international charity, founded in 1942 as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief to … Continue reading “Oxfam is up to its old anti-capitalist tricks again…”

The IEA’s occasional left-wing sparring partner, Richard Murphy of the Tax Justice Network, tweeted this week about the Bank of … Continue reading “Diversity? What diversity?”

This week we have been enduring yet another round of ‘industrial action’ on the railways. It’s very difficult to keep … Continue reading “Why the current strike wave is not a 1970s re-enactment”

“Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run, it’s almost everything.” Paul Krugman’s truism came back to me last week when I … Continue reading “The anti-productivity coalition that is holding back Britain”

The Government has announced that all social housing managers in England will now be required to gain formal housing qualifications. … Continue reading “The Social Housing (Regulation) Bill: an expensive smokescreen”

The gloomy news about the economy makes it likely that we will be seeing higher unemployment in the near future, … Continue reading “Labour market statistics: go with the flow”

Much is being made at the moment of the rise in economic inactivity, and of the fact that total employment … Continue reading “Where have all the self-employed gone?”