Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt has put forward a vision of the labour market of the future, which emphasises bringing more parents, older people and ethnic minorities into fulfilling employment. Ms Hewitt’s comments marked the publication of “Full and
Fulfilling Employment”.
“Full and Fulfilling Employment” sets out three principles:
– Full employment. “Jobs are the key to prosperity and social inclusion. Lack of employment opportunities creates the conditions for poverty, exclusion, despair and disengagement.”
– Diversity and choice. “Critical to bringing more people into the labour market is offering diversity and choice to individuals when considering the hours they are able to work. Different people will want to work different hours at different stages in their lives. Half the growth of the working age population in the next ten years will be from ethnic minority groups.”
– Raising productivity. “When people fulfil their own aspirations they contribute more to the success of the organisations they work in. Improving productivity leads not only to greater prosperity for the country, but better jobs for people.”
The analysis rejects the caricature that the UK has to choose between a job-destroying regulatory European social model and a job-creating deregulatory US model.
