Aargh! BBC Radio 4 Today talking about the two child limit and making it about “working people” vs “people on benefits”. Once again: most families affected by the cap are in work!

Labour's manifesto mentioned "growth" 49 times and "inequality" once. The two are intertwined. Income inequality has fallen since 2008, but low growth has entrenched intergenerational inequalities. Me in Financial Times drawing on recently published Deaton Review ft.com/content/93a498…

This is great news. Evidence-based policy making. At last.

As a basic income advocate, I have to admit that this is true, and that it struck me as well while I was reading the coverage. We need more intellectual honesty here. It's not about being pro- or anti-UBI. It's about what works in the fight against poverty, injustice etc.

"By embedding the real Living Wage into funding and investment agreements, we can grow a good creative economy, where everyone is paid enough to thrive." Thanks to @artspro for highlighting the opportunities for #LivingWage in the sector. artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/artic…

🚨New NEF research out today on benefits conditionality: 🫵strict & prescriptive conditionality is pushing people into poor quality work or away from support altogether 📋the public is open to a more flexible & supportive approach that prioritises engagement Find out more👇🧵

It was great to be with Alice Martin & Dr Calum Carson to be in Lancaster, listen to employers from the North West discuss health-related challenges in their workforce and ways to work towards a healthier workforce!

A great morning Lancaster Castle as part of a The Work Foundation roundtable session on health and work challenges facing Lancashire employers: a wide-ranging discussion ranging from hybrid work to economic inactivity to the apprenticeship levy! Great work by Alice Martin and Aslı Atay.

Investing in productive public infrastructure *improves* the public finances over the medium to long term. Cutting them to fill a "hole" caused by previous government's incompetence/dishonesty is just doubling down on failure. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

Great new article on prevalence & characteristics of #gigwork in the UK by Yuliya V. Tavares using Understanding Society data. I for one did not know that cloud work (Upwork etc) hugely outnumbers local gigs (e.g. delivery/taxi drivers)! The Work Foundation UKDataService lancaster.ac.uk/work-foundatio…

"Childcare needs to be seen as infrastructure and so does affordable housing. When it is, maybe people will feel safe enough to have children. But until that happens, who would blame them if they don’t?" Brilliant piece by Vicky Spratt 🔗 refinery29.com/en-us/women-fa…

We strongly support this call by the TUC to scrap discriminatory minimum wage age bands. Younger workers should not get paid less for doing the same work as their older colleagues.

There's always one quote that sticks with me from any qualitative research. For NEF's new report on benefits conditionality, it was this one. Conditionality is framed as a floor to ensure a minimum level of compliance, but it often puts a ceiling on the quality of engagement.

🚨6.8 million UK workers are in severely insecure work. This includes some of the most precariously employed workers in the UK: those engaged in platform work. Article on the prevalence & characteristics of #gigwork in the UK.⬇️ ✍️Yuliya V. Tavares 🔗lancaster.ac.uk/work-foundatio…

More evidence of the devastating impact of the sanctions regime. Time and again, WBG has shown how punitive policies like the benefit cap and the 2-child limit have exacerbated inequalities of gender, race, class & disability. They must be abolished. theguardian.com/society/articl…

The Low Pay Commission will scrap discriminatory age bands for Minimum Wage workers and factor in the cost of living for the first time. But what does this mean in practice? And how far will this make a difference to people on low pay? 🧵(1/5)

Some great resources here for students and educators about what 'good work' looks like, and how to have conversations with employers about conditions, rights and pay.

Very happy to return from leave and see the announcement of this new dashboard at the top of my feed this morning. In order to effectively combat poverty it is crucial to have access to ways of measuring and tracking it, and at different levels too (absolute/relative/MIS etc).

🔍Interesting new analysis from Trades Union Congress this morning highlighting structural racism in the UK's job market. People from ethnic minority backgrounds experience more barriers to good jobs + lower promotion prospects. This drives the #insecurework gap. tinyurl.com/3z98ybnf

As with many others exhausted by the general misery and racism/sexism/ableism (all of the isms, really) et al that is so rampant here on Twitter, I'm beginning the migration over to bluesky: you can find me at @drcalumcarson.bsky.social 👋 medium.com/@jamestplunket…