Len Shackleton

Professor Len Shackleton is the Editorial and Research Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs

Wednesday

Len Shackleton

Football doesn’t need a regulator

From our UK edition

Kemi Badenoch has come out against the Football Governance Bill, and not before time. In November 2021, Tracey Crouch, the former Tory sports minister, led calls for a football regulator in her ‘Fan-Led Review of Football Governance’, and in March 2022, Boris Johnson backed the plans. Once that muddy ball started rolling, even three changes of prime minister couldn’t stop it. Keir Starmer is seemingly as much in favour as his predecessors. The enduring argument for a football regulator lies with the weird economics of professional football, which sees the majority of clubs spending well in excess of their regular revenue in the hope of winning trophies or promotion – or at least staving off relegation.

Friday

Len Shackleton

Labour’s worker’s rights bill is more of a slow burner

From our UK edition

Labour’s long-promised Employment Rights Bill may not be quite as immediately game-changing as the trade unions hoped or the business lobby feared. There will be implementation delays, with most elements not operative until 2026 – unsurprising given the expected complexity of the legislation. Further consultation will be needed before more detailed regulations are tabled. But that's not to say that, when Angela Rayner's new workers' legislation does kick in, all will be business as usual. The likely creation of a nine-month probationary period for new employees – which would mitigate the effects of scrapping the two-year wait for unfair dismissal law to kick in – may assuage some of the fears of businesses. But let’s see how this shapes up in practice.

Friday

Len Shackleton

Starmer could regret trying to woo trade unions

From our UK edition

The last two and a half years have seen a dramatic revival in trade union militancy, with working days lost through strikes reaching their highest level for more than thirty years. The arrival of a Labour government has already seen markedly more generous settlements than the Conservatives offered – and the new administration has committed to legislation intended to boost union power. It's a situation that is unlikely to end well – for businesses and for workers.

Thursday

Len Shackleton

In defence of ‘fat cat’ chief executives

From our UK edition

Are chief executives overpaid? The High Pay Centre thinks so. Every January, it releases data showing the huge inequality between top UK CEOs and average workers. The results are startling: 'Bosses of Britain's biggest companies will have made more money in 2024 by lunchtime on Thursday than the typical worker will all year,' according to the BBC, which wrote up the story showing that top bosses' average reward amounts to £3.81 million a year. But is this disparity with the £34,963 annual median wage for full-time workers really a surprise? The truth is that this pay gap is an obvious feature of a free market where top pay in business is associated with great responsibilities and considerable stress.

Thursday

Thursday

Wednesday

Len Shackleton

The minimum wage is broken – here’s how to fix it

From our UK edition

While welcoming George Osborne’s emphasis this week on raising employment, I have some caveats about his target – to have the highest employment rate in the G7. This isn’t hugely challenging. Those in employment currently amount to 71.2 per cent of the UK population of working age, well ahead of Italy (55.5 per cent), France (64.1 per cent) and even the USA (67.4 per cent). Germany, at 73.5 per cent, is the current table-topper and the one Mr Osborne aims to overtake. Aggregates like this, though, are dodgy to interpret and are affected by differences in age cohort size and other factors.

Monday

Len Shackleton

Zero-hours contracts have their place in the labour market

From our UK edition

One million people on zero hours contracts, scream the media - quoting figures released today by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. This is at odds with recent ONS figures that put the number on these contracts closer to 200,000. Zero-hours contracts have been around for many years in the retail and hospitality industries, where demand fluctuates from month to month and even day to day. Their use has spread recently to other sectors including healthcare (with up to 100,000 such contracts, including last year as many as 800 consultants), education and public services. In response to the media storm, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is conducting a review. Why has the use of these contracts grown?

Thursday

Len Shackleton

Do public sector job cuts hit women disproportionately?

From our UK edition

As we move towards the budget we will be hearing more and more warnings about the impact of further cuts in public sector employment. One line, pursued repeatedly by the TUC and the Fawcett Society since Mr Osborne's first budget, is that such cuts will particularly impact on women. As the public sector employs more women than men, it is argued, the cuts mean higher unemployment for women. It has even been suggested that an Impact Assessment along these lines would conclude that public sector cuts breach the Equality Act. I don't know about that. But it is worth pointing out how difficult it is to assess the impact of public sector 'cuts' on unemployment.