Not Working: Where Have All the Good Jobs Gone?

by David G. Blanchflower

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights to the UK, Philip Alston, reported at the end of a twelve-day visit to the UK in 2018 that “the government’s policies and drastic cuts to social support are entrenching high levels of poverty and inflicting unnecessary misery. . . . In the fifth richest country in the world, this is not just a disgrace, but a social calamity and an economic disaster, all rolled into one.” He continued: “Government policies have inflicted great misery unnecessarily, especially on the working poor, on single mothers struggling against mighty odds, on people with disabilities who are already marginalised, and on millions of children who are locked into a cycle of poverty from which many will have great difficulty escaping.”