In the UK, according to the Living Wage Foundation, some 1,000 firms have pledged to offer a living wage, including household names like RBS, ITV and SSE. Earlier this week the annual rate increase was…
Can Miliband feel his way to a better relationship with Scottish Labour?
Andrew Milligan
How ironic that Scottish Labour won the referendum battle but is tearing itself apart. Following Johann Lamont’s incredible resignation comments about the party being treated like a “branch office” to…
Over half of Australia’s imported goods come from the Asia Pacific, which has 78 million child labourers, including these three in a Bangladesh balloon factory.
EPA/Abir Abdhullah
The fragmentation of global production has dramatically increased the length and complexity of supply chains. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that more than…
Rumours have been swirling for about a month now that Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont was facing an internal challenge. So in one sense, the news of her resignation is not a surprise. But despite…
The results of the by-elections that have just taken place in Clacton and Heywood and Middleton are virtually impossible to spin for either the Conservatives or Labour. Predictably, each side of Britain’s…
“Just as long as we don’t have to call it The Nicola and David Show.”
Andrew Milligan/PA
After the 2010 UK election, some individuals urged Labour to try to form a rainbow-style coalition with the smaller parties in the House of Commons. According to the maths, several potential groupings…
Nigel Farage entered Doncaster racecourse to give the first of two speeches to the UKIP annual conference against a backdrop of Olympics-style inspirational house music. The soundtrack was appropriate…
A Level results are in and as teenagers pore over their grades, a record number will be able to take up places at university. The results – which show a small decline in the overall pass rate for the first…
State-owned East Coast train pulling into London King’s Cross.
Matt Buck
So the mountain has rumbled and given forth its usual platitudinous mouse. Labour leader Ed Miliband’s pronouncements confirmed longstanding speculation that his party has plans for rail. In particular…
The more that Labour insists the support for Ed Miliband is rock solid, the less the public are inclined to believe the party. It’s not just the open criticism from John Cruddas, there’s all the reading…
I’m doing a straw poll. How much would you pay?
Stefan Rousseau/PA Archive
I’m an unabashed political junkie. Who’s up, who’s down; who’s in, who’s out. Yet it’s fair to say that pretty much all the day-to-day policy spinning, posturing and firefighting rarely percolates outside…
Labour leader Ed Miliband addresses the party faithful in Scotland.
Andrew Milligan/PA
Ed Miliband’s goal in addressing the Scottish Labour conference in Perth was straightforward: to promote the campaign for the No vote on the forthcoming referendum on Scottish independence. There are all…
Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont launched an awkward compromise.
David Cheskin/PA Archive
The publication of the Labour Party’s Devolution Commission leaves the Conservatives as the only significant pro-union party yet to declare what further devolution it would consider in the event of a no…
No country for young men.
Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP/Press Association Images
Yeshpal Singh is in his early thirties, his hair already streaked with grey. He sits in a university in the north Indian city of Meerut. Catch him on a good day, and he’ll tell you that he is a PhD physics…
It can take some time for women to come to terms with the conceptual as well as physical change of giving birth.
Remy Sharp
There is a substantial literature on labour and childbirth in medical, midwifery and social scientific research. But we still don’t know much about how labouring women experience that pivotal time when…
The total cost of care per woman was AUS$566·74 less for one-on-one midwifery care than for standard maternity care, the study found.
Sandor Weisz
A woman who is cared for by the same midwife throughout her pregnancy, labour and after birth saves the public health system around A$550, a new study has found, debunking the myth that it is an expensive…
Policymakers should ensure that the safety net provides adequate income for daily needs as well as ensuring that people are positioned to quickly reintegrate into satisfactory paid employment.
freefotouk
In the late 1990s, American writer and activist Barbara Ehrenreich spent a year working in low end jobs in the United States documenting the pitifully low wages, the oppression, and barriers to upward…
A skilled workforce will ensure that Australia’s labour market remains competitive amid greater integration with Asia.
AAP
AUSTRALIA IN THE ASIAN CENTURY – A series examining Australia’s role in the rapidly transforming Asian region. Delivered in partnership with the Australian government. Today, Professor Jeff Borland suggests…
It’s a year of mixed fortunes for Australia’s labour market.
AAP
Not so long ago, when economic commentators thought about unemployment and the Australian labour market, their main question was: How low can it go? The global financial crisis was a setback to this improving…
Wage growth and wage expectations have taken a downward turn.
Flickr/HoskingIndustries
Wage growth has slowed in the last quarter, with pay rising at just 2.9% over the last 12 months to August, down from 5.1% in the 12 months to May, a new survey shows. The survey of 1200 households, conducted…