Documents Labour Market Trends 279 results

"This article begins with a brief background into the enlargement process, This is followed by the recent economic history of the new member states. More recent developments in the economies of the new member states are then presented, such as GDP growth, inflation and employment structure.The analysis section deals with labour market characteristics of the New Member States and the EU15, primarily the industrial composition, unemployment, employment, earnings and inactivity. The analysis shows that there are a number of differences as well as similarities in the labour markets of the new member states and the EU15."

"This is the latest in a series of annual articles on jobs in the public and private sectors. This article updates the figures to June 2003, the latest date for which there is comprehensive information. The paper first looks at the latest figures for public sector jobs and their historic context. It then investigates the relative movements in public and private sector jobs. The public sector data in this article are derived from administrative sources and a survey of local authorities. This information is combined with data from the Labour Force Survey and Workforce Jobs to produce information on the private sector. The fastest growing areas of public sector employment are in those areas that have had the largest additional public spending. The bulk of the job gains were in education (up 88,000 jobs) and health (up 63,000). Police and 'other central government' employment also went up (adding 9,000 and 22,000 jobs respectively). Together health and education now account for just under 60 per cent of public sector jobs compared with around 40 per cent in 1983.Employment in the public sector is now 10 per cent higher than in 1998, due to the creation of an additional 509,000 jobs. Before this, the number of public sector jobs had fallen since 1983. Current totals are still well down on levels seen in the 1970s and 1980s, though the biggest single cause of the fall since that period was the reclassification of corporations following privatisation.Job growth in the economy as a whole continued in the 12 months to June 2003. Private sector jobs grew by 98,000 compared to 162,000 in the public sector. The public sector is the largest employer in public administration, education and health, although private sector health employment also increased last year. Private sector jobs are more prevalent in production and construction and in the 'other services' category that contains the bulk of private sector service jobs."

"In 2003 499,100 working days were lost in the UK as a result of labour disputes - less than half the total lost in 2002 (1,323,300) and lower than the average for the ten years 1993 to 2002 (575,200). There were 133 stoppages of work in 2003 because of labour disputes – the lowest annual total on record. The 2003 figure of 133 compares with 146 stoppages in 2002 and 194 stoppages in 2001.The article analyses the three main measures of labour disputes - working days lost, stoppages and workers involved - by industry, region, cause, size and duration. The statistics are put into context by considering estimates of working days lost per 1,000 employees and working time lost through strikes as a proportion of time actually worked.Data are taken from a number of sources including regular centralised returns from some industries and public bodies, as well as directly from the employer or trade union involved after ONS has been notified of a dispute from press reports."

"Changes in overall redundancy rates can often be accounted for by a change in a specific industry/region. Redundancies in 2002 stood out as showing a number of differences compared to other years, and are a good illustration of this point. This article looks at redundancy estimates for spring quarters from 1999 to 2003. Analysis of redundancies is broken down by sex, age, region, occupation and industry. It was found that men were more likely than women to be made redundant, and younger and older workers were more likely to be made redundant than those in the middle age group. The article also examines types of redundancy pay received, reasons for redundancy and re-employment following redundancy.Post-Census reweighted Labour Force Survey (LFS) data were used for analysis and provide an update to the previous Labour Market Trends article on redundancies (June 2001, pp315-322)."

"This article provides an exploratory analysis into the ethnic differences in demographic characteristic and economic activity, as well as changes over time. Quarterly Labour Force Surveys were pooled over seven spring quarters to form an early time cohort (1992-1995) and a later time cohort (2000-2002). Patterns of women's economic activity revealed major differences between ethnic groups, as well as significant changes over time. Black women tended to remain in full-time employment throughout family formation whereas white and Indian women were more likely to be in part-time employment. In contrast, levels of economic activity amongst Pakistani and Bangladeshi women fell substantially once they had a partner and fell again when they had children. This descriptive analysis suggests it is important to take into consideration the varying demographic and family structures when analysing the economic activity of minority ethnic women. A key question for the future is whether younger cohorts of women will increase their economic activity from the low levels of the maternal generation."

"In 2002 the UK had the fourteenth lowest strike rate of the 19 countries that supplied data in the OECD – compared with a ranking of 11 out of 23 in 2001. In 2002 the UK strike rate was the same as the OECD average but lower than the EU average. In previous years the UK strike rate has been below both the EU and the OECD averages since 1993, with the exception of 1996.This article continues a regular series on international labour disputes and presents data on labour disputes in member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) between 1993 and 2002. Comparisons are made of overall strike rates between countries as well as strike rates by industry. The article also describes the differences in definitions and coverage of the statistics between countries and how they affect comparability."

"This article looks at the difference between UK unemployment, as officially measured by the Labour Force Survey using the internationally agreed (International Labour Organisation) definition, and the lower claimant count based on the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance. It gives explanations for the difference between movements of the two measures over time since 1980. Over recent years the gap between the two measures has tended to widen as the labour market has improved. A major reason is that people, who were previously inactive in the labour market, have been encouraged by improvement to the economy to begin actively seeking work (and become unemployed), but have not been claiming Jobseeker's Allowance. In contrast the gap has tended to narrow during periods of increasing unemployment."

"This article highlights differences and similarities in working time patterns in the UK, France, Denmark and Sweden. For example, part time work is more prevalent in the services sector, compared to industry and agriculture in all four countries. In addition, the incidence of long hours is lowest in Sweden, while the UK has a high proportion of employees working 45 hours a week or more, although recently the UK has experienced a decline in the number of people working long hours.The article examines the determinants of hours worked including regulations and legislation, cultural factors, wages and taxes, and business cycles. After a look at measurement issues, the main body of the article presents the analysis of usual hours worked in terms of gender, industry, part-time work and long hours.The four countries identified to be studied were chosen because they appeared to exhibit both different trends and similarities. The analysis highlights the importance of legislation in France, Denmark and Sweden. In France, the Aubry laws have had an impact on people working over 35 hours a week. In Denmark, the 1987 agreement on working time has led to 45 per cent of all employees reporting working 37 hours per week, while the Swedish Working Hours Act sets a standard working week of 40 hours, and, as a result, as many as 52 per cent of all workers report 40 usual working hours.However, opt-outs exist in all four countries in this study, which leads to some deviation from these stipulated working time standards."

"Key estimates for trade union membership in 2003 have been published as interim revised Labour Force Survey estimates consistent with the latest population estimates.The short article covers totals of trade union membership and employees whose pay is covered by collective agreements. Union density is examined by sex, age, full-time or part-time working and government office region. These estimates are subject to revision when the LFS micro-data are reweighted."

"Growing policy interest in work life balance and employer's desires for a flexible workforce are seen as driving factors in the growing amount of non-standard work. In this article, using UK LFS, Census, and OECD data, non-standard work within the UK, G7, and Australia, whether from home, part-time, temporary, or shift work, is discussed. The prevalence of and reasons for various forms of non-standard work are presented, and the experience of women in the labour market is discussed as being marginalised by the ‘standard' definition. In 1901 women were more likely than men to work from home but in 2003 the situation was reversed, and 14 per cent of men worked from home compared with 8 per cent of women. Almost one-quarter of men working part-time in 2003 said that they did so because they could afford not to work full-time, whereas 41 per cent of women working part-time wanted to spend more time with the family. Although temporary employment accounts for roughly the same proportion of those in employment in 2003 as in 1993 the proportion who could not find a full-time job decreased 15 percentage points over the decade.This article is the first in a series looking at working time arrangements over the coming months."