Thread by @TorstenBell

New @resfoundation report asks: how has record employment changed the UK? Who is working, where, and in what kind of jobs? It's not very clear where we're going Brexit wise this week but we can, and should, examine where we are jobs wise resolutionfoundation.org/publications/s…

The UK has been consistently hitting record employment levels for the past four years. 2.7m more people are in work today than pre-crisis, in stark contrast to employment disasters after the 80s and 90s recessions.

The jobs boom has reduced employment inequality over the past decade, with big employment growth amongst those with lower qualifications and disabilities

Employment inequality has also fallen between places, with lower employment areas seeing the biggest increases - Merseyside and South Yorkshire have seen the strongest growth.

The jobs surge has happened despite us becoming an older population with more health challenges - especially a surge in mental health related ones. These have been countered by rising employment rates amongst the old and those with disabilities

The result: jobs growth has been progressive with almost 2/3 of employment growth going to the bottom half of the income distribution. Amongst the working age population its even more progressive. But despite that good news there are questions to ask/lessons to learn...

Has the jobs growth been just about London? No, London just looks like its seen the most benefit because of big population increases. The real picture is big cities generally doing best, not London in particular. Small towns outside the South East are a concern

Have the new jobs been low paid? No, higher paid occupations have continued to be the fastest growing but we should be worried about the quality of the jobs the young are increasingly doing

Is jobs growth all about migration? No, we are also at record employment for the UK born population

Has insecure work grown? Yes, the immediate post-crisis jobs growth was dominated by atypical work (self-employment, agency work etc). While recent growth has largely been full-time the level of atypical work remains too high

So if many of the problems with jobs growth aren't what people often say why doesnt the country feel like boom time Britain? Because having a job isnt the problem - what you get paid for doing it is. Average earnings are still £9/week below the pre-crisis level

So where does that leave the country? With higher and better shared employment, but with a need to focus on
1) bringing down the amount of insecure work
2) the quality of the jobs being done by the young
3) smaller towns outside the south east
4) the disaster of slow pay growth