Event

Work Matters 2025: Labour market a crossroads?

This event hosted by UK think tank the Work Foundation discusses labour market statistics data and what it means for workers, businesses and communities.

Join the Work Foundation and a panel of experts to review the labour market statistics and inflation data, and what it means for workers, businesses and communities.

In the first half of 2025 the UK labour market has weakened, undermining the Government’s ambition of boosting employment during the remainder of the Parliament.

Geopolitical challenges are creating sustained uncertainty in the global economy, but jobseekers, workers and employers are also facing challenges in the UK. Regular nominal pay is still rising above inflation but is on a downward trajectory and the growth in the real value of pay has fallen to its lowest level for 18 months.

Employers are facing rising costs, and vacancies are continuing to fall below pre-pandemic levels. As the Government aims to create pathways to work for those out of the labour market, unemployment is now at its highest level for four years with jobseekers navigating the most competitive jobs market since the start of 2021.

Against this backdrop, what are the trade-offs facing policymakers in the middle of 2025, and what should they be prioritising in the second half of the year?

Speakers

Danny Sriskandarajah – Chief Executive, New Economics Foundation

Naomi Clayton – Chief Executive, Institute for Employment Studies

Delphine Strauss – Economics Correspondent, The Financial Times

Ben Harrison – Director, Work Foundation at Lancaster University