Publication - Hard Labour: Jobs, unemployment and the recession

Hard Labour: Jobs, unemployment and the recession

Report

Published: November 2008

Authors: Ian Brinkley, Naomi Clayton, David Coats, Will Hutton, Stephen Overell

Abstract

Predicting a peak of 2.5 million unemployed and a worse recession than both the 1980s and 1990s, a new report by The Work Foundation urges the government to use every means at its disposal – monetary, fiscal, financial and through assorted labour market interventions – to boost the economy and protect employment. The package of measures it proposes includes: a comprehensive programme to boost bank lending, a one-off tax credit targeted at the poor, higher benefit payments to stimulate demand, a public works programme together, and an incentive scheme for employers to put workers on shorter hours rather than make them redundant.