More rights is true, but which rights?
More than 1m UK workers to gain more rights under employment bill, says thinktank
Work Foundation says key elements of bill promote secure jobs amid fierce business lobbying against legislation
We’ve always enjoyed the Work Foundation. Will Hutton takes over the old Industrial Society, makes it new, exciting and relevant and it then collapses into the arms of Lancaster University. Just where we can see we should all be getting our advice on how to run the economy - either the foundation or Willy.
Which is why we’re not hugely surprised by the inability to work out which rights will be gained by this new legislation. Yes, jobs will be more secure as it will be more difficult to fire someone. Those starting jobs will be more secure as employment rights kick in immediately rather than after a trial period.
This therefore - and note it is therefore, not some idle side effect - means there will be fewer jobs and most especially fewer of those starting jobs. For a young person just starting out has nothing to show an employer about their ability to turn up on time, regularly, sober, dressed and actually do something while there. That’s something that just has to be taken on trust. Or, as the saying goes, trust but verify. Which is what those trial periods do before those employment rights used to kick in. Without the trial period fewer jobs will be offered to such young shavers.
In effect this moves the UK - formerly home of one of the most liberal labour markets in Europe - to something akin to the Latin European model. Where youth unemployment rates are 20 and 25%. Because no one can get that vital first job because no one’s willing to take the risk of taking on some untried wastrel it’s therefore near impossible to deal with.
None of this is any mystery. It’s the sort of thing economists specialising in labour markets have been pointing to for decades. Increase the risks of employing the young and marvel in wonder as fewer of the young gain employment. But politics, the Work Foundation and Observer columnists, eh?
Tim Worstall