A rotten sort of recovery | John Harris

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/17/rotten-recovery-low-pay-job-insecurity

In amongst all the lefty outrage is one nugget that I think could be really important in years to come: "What that means is obvious enough: for millions, the same deepening insecurity they experienced under the last government, and then some."

I think people are right to fear the lost generation of which I fear I may be a part, and a deepening inequality in terms of security. More and more people are going to have job insecurity, which when added to increasing financial pressure could well be a recipe for social disquiet. I'm certainly not advocating it, but that's what happens when you come down too strongly on the side of private sector employers and harsh supply side reforms.

"week's inflation figures showed prices rising twice as fast as average pay." This can only continue for so long
"To everyone I speak to, the combination of stagnating pay and rising cost of living seems cruel and increasingly unmanageable." Quite.


"the workforce is made anxious by ever-increasing numbers of agency workers, employed on inferior terms, who come and go at speed"
It's not nice being one, I tell thee that

I do wonder if all this will see a re-rise of union membership. It would certainly seem a logical solution to poor pay and job insecurity.