A hard day’s night

This report – part of our ‘Unsung Britan’ programme of work – provides the context for the Government’s ambitions to raise employment and drive up job quality. It describes the labour market experiences of low-to-middle income families and how these have changed over the past quarter century. It explores those families’ employment, pay, experiences at work, and their feelings about changing jobs and progressing in work.

We find that while the employment ‘gap’ between people living in the poorest and richest families in Britain has fallen over the past few decades, workers in poorer households remain less likely to be satisfied with their job, and more likely to have an insecure employment contract. Other concerns cited by workers from low-to-middle income families in focus groups conducted by the Foundation included unexpected overtime, stress at work, and bad managers.  Provisions included in the Employment Rights Bill – including protection against unfair dismissal and the new right to guaranteed hours – should help workers in lower-income families, but there are also things for employers to deal with, such as treating workers with greater respect and improving management quality.