Employment and the labour market

Mike Brewer
Andrew Shephard

Published on 22 April 2005

This note looks at the changes in employment and Labour's policies since 1997 and review the proposals of the three main parties in this area.

Since 1997, there have been changes in rates of employment, unemployment and inactivity. These changes have coincided with the Labour government's эaking Work Pay' agenda, which has seen the introduction of in-work tax credits, the national minimum wage and various New Deal programmes.

Section 2 gives details of how the rates of employment, unemployment and economic inactivity have changed under the Labour government. Section 3 begins by detailing the national minimum wage and presents evidence on its impact, and continues in a somewhat similar vein, analysing the New Deal programmes and in-work tax credits. In Section 4, we show how financial work incentives have changed since 1997, and we briefly analyse the employment proposals of the main parties in Section 5. Finally, Section 6 concludes.