In a central London speech, alongside the Prime Minister and
Business Secretary , , chief executive of the
Royal Society of Arts, set out his blueprint for a UK economy
that truly works for everyone, creating more skilled, well-paid
jobs to boost the nation’s earning power and productivity.
, who was commissioned
last year by the Prime Minister to carry out this review called
for a fresh look to be taken at employment laws to make it easier
for workers to understand and access their rights.
said:
Our national performance on the quantity of work is strong. But
quantity alone is not enough for a thriving economy and fair
society. We believe now is the time to complement that
commitment to creating jobs with the goal of creating better
jobs.
The Review calls on the government to adopt the ambition that
all work should be fair and decent with scope for fulfilment
and development.
Despite the impact of the National Living Wage and tax credits,
there will always be people who are in work but finding it hard
to make ends meet. Our social contract with those people should
include dignity at work and the realistic scope to progress in
the labour market.
Bad work – insecure, exploitative, controlling – is bad for
health and wellbeing, something that generates cost for
vulnerable individuals but also for wider society.
As many business leaders recognise, low quality work and weak
management is implicated in our productivity challenge.
Improving the quality of work should be an important part of
our productivity strategy.
Technology – like robotics and machine learning – is going to
have a big impact on jobs and the tasks that make up those
jobs. As we seize these technological opportunities – as we
must – we should do so with the aim of making working lives
better, taking away the drudgery and leaving the human contact
and creativity that machines can’t provide.
If we want citizens who are engaged, responsible, active, who –
to coin a phrase – ‘take back control’ we should encourage
those same virtues in the workplace. Our idea of what it is to
be a respected citizen should not stop at the office or factory
door.
Prime Minister launched the Taylor Review
in a speech at the Royal
Society of Arts.
The government will now be engaging with stakeholders across the
country, including those who represent employers and employees,
to understand their views ahead of publishing a full government
response later in the year.
Business Secretary said:
We have record numbers of people in work thanks to our flexible
labour market.
Being in work is important but people also deserve to be
treated fairly by their employers whatever work they are
carrying out.
I’d like to thank and his expert panel
for conducting such a thorough and detailed review. We will be
engaging people and organisations across the country to
continue this important debate.
Through our Industrial Strategy, we will make sure wherever
people are in the country, there are more skilled, well-paid
jobs to increase productivity and earning power, benefiting
both workers and business.
