Skip to main content

The Guardian:
Britain needs its trade unions more than ever

23 June 2014

US-style flexibility has also been marked by a relentless squeeze on wages and the capture of the proceeds of growth by those at the top. A recent article by David Blanchflower and Stephen Machin says that in 2013, median real weekly wages (pay adjusted for inflation for someone smack in the middle of the income distribution) were about the same in 2013 as they were in 1979. ''This is probably of concern for the UK's prospects since the United States went through a number of labour market changes some time before similar shifts in the UK. These include greater ''flexibility'' and a massive reduction in the extent of union bargaining over wages,'' they wrote.

This article was published by The Guardian on June 23, 2014
Link to article here

Also in:
Kitco.com

Related Publications
Falling real wages David Blanchflower, Stephen Machin, May 2014. Article in CentrePiece - Volume 19, Issue 1, Spring 2014

Related links
Stephen Machin webpage
Labour Markets Programme webpage

Read more... The Guardian