Fuel and travel costs are pushing prices up again
Thursday 5 November 2026
Inflation has risen to 3.1%, meaning everyday spending is getting more expensive just as household budgets are already under pressure.
Too many jobs offer too little
Too many jobs lack the decent pay, reliable hours, stability and opportunities people need to build a secure future.
In a nutshell
- A good job offers more than a wage. It also means hours you can count on, some security, a chance to progress and basic protections such as sick pay.
- Official figures from 2021 suggest most UK employees have suitable hours and the type of contract they want. [1] But a sizeable minority don't. More than a million people have no guaranteed hours [2], and real wages are well below the path they were on before the 2008 financial crisis. [3]
- It matters because work is meant to be the route to a decent life. Around two-thirds of working-age adults in poverty live in a household where someone works. [4]
The basics
There is no official government definition of a "good job". [1] But most attempts to measure job quality look at the same handful of things.
Security
Is the job likely to last? Temporary contracts and repeated short-term renewals make it hard to plan ahead.
Reliable hours and income
Do you know how much you will work and earn next month? Zero-hours contracts, changing shifts and cancelled work make budgeting difficult.
Decent pay
Does the pay cover ordinary living costs and leave a little to save?
Access to skilled work
Are there suitable jobs where you live, and does your job use the skills you have?
Progression and training
Can you learn, take on more responsibility and earn more over time?
Conditions and protection
Sick pay, a pension, a manageable workload, and rights you can actually use if something goes wrong.
Flexibility: who is in control?
Flexibility cuts both ways. Choosing your own hours can be a real benefit. But when the employer decides the hours and the worker carries the uncertainty, a government-commissioned review in 2017 called it "one-sided flexibility". [5] The same arrangement can be a good deal for a student and a bad one for a parent with rent to pay.
How big is the problem?
No single number captures job quality, so it helps to look at several. Figures are for the UK unless stated.
Pay has fallen behind
In May 2026, the Resolution Foundation estimated that average weekly earnings were £278 below the path they had been on before the 2008 financial crisis. [3]
Work doesn't always prevent poverty
Around two-thirds of working-age adults in poverty, 5.4 million people, live in a household where someone is in work, according to a Joseph Rowntree Foundation report published in January 2026. [4]
Hours you can't count on
More than a million people are on zero-hours contracts, which guarantee no work at all. [2] [6]
In 2021, over half of employees on these contracts were low paid, compared with 16% of other employees. [1]
Limited chances to get on
In 2021, 55% of employees said their job offered good opportunities for career progression. Among part-time employees the figure was 40%. [1]
Less training
Employers spent £1,700 per employee on training in 2024. In real terms, that is 29.5% less than in 2011, according to the government's Employer Skills Survey. [7]
Skills going unused
An OECD survey carried out in 2022 and 2023 found that about 37% of workers in England were over-qualified for their job, the highest rate of any country surveyed. [8]
Some researchers doubt the figure is that high, but still find over-qualification in England is above most other advanced economies. [9]
Not every measure points the same way
- Hourly low pay is at a record low. In April 2025, 2.5% of employee jobs paid less than two-thirds of the median hourly rate, the lowest share since records began in 1997. [10] This comes after years of large rises in the legal minimum wage. By 2024 it was around 70% higher, after inflation, than when it was introduced 25 years earlier. [11] This measures hourly rates, not weekly pay, which also depends on how many hours someone gets.
- Most employees have suitable hours and contracts. In 2021, 82% of employees worked what the ONS calls "satisfactory hours", meaning no more than 48 a week and not wanting more. And 98% were either in a permanent job or in a temporary one for a reason other than being unable to find permanent work. [1]
- Some gaps have recently been closed. Since April 2026, statutory sick pay has been paid from the first day of illness instead of the fourth, and the lowest earners are no longer excluded. [12]
So the picture is mixed. Hourly pay at the bottom has improved. Overall wage growth, reliable hours and progression remain the weak spots.
Example
Sana and Callum are a couple in their thirties. They live in a town an hour and a half from the nearest big city.
- Sana works in a care home, paid a little above the minimum wage. Her rota arrives a week ahead and often changes, so her monthly pay can swing by a few hundred pounds.
- Callum has an engineering qualification but works in a warehouse. The engineering jobs are in the city, and the commute would cost more than the pay rise. His employer offers no training and there is no obvious next step.
Both are in work, so neither appears in the unemployment figures. But they can't save, can't plan, and can't see how things improve. The problem isn't finding a job. It's what the job offers.
How did we get here?
There is no single cause. These are the explanations that come up most often.
-
Productivity and pay growth slowed after 2008
What happened
Labour productivity means how much is produced for each hour worked. Before the 2008 financial crisis it grew by around 2% a year in the UK. In 2021 the ONS said it had grown slowly ever since, and that the UK's slowdown was among the sharpest of any developed country. [13]
Why it matters
If each hour of work produces little more than it used to, employers have less room to raise pay without raising prices or cutting profits.
-
Fewer workers negotiate together
What happened
In 2024, 22% of UK employees belonged to a trade union. That was the lowest rate in comparable records going back to 1995. [14]
Why it matters
Through collective bargaining, unions negotiate pay and conditions for groups of workers. Without them, people negotiate alone, and those in low-paid or easily replaced roles tend to have the least leverage.
What the evidence shows
In 2021, 54% of employees said managers were good at involving staff and their representatives in decisions. [1] Whether falling union membership is a cause of weaker pay and conditions, or a symptom of a changing economy, is disputed.
-
Flexible contracts became more visible
What happened
The number of people saying they were on a zero-hours contract rose sharply between 2012 and 2016. The House of Commons Library says this probably owed more to growing awareness of the term than to a real increase. Since 2016 the share of people in work on these contracts has risen more slowly, from around 2.5% to around 3.5%. [2]
Why it matters
These contracts let employers match staffing to demand, and let some workers fit a job around other commitments. [2] The risk is that the worker absorbs all the uncertainty: no work, no pay. [5]
What the evidence shows
The ONS says a zero-hours contract is neither a sign of a good job nor a bad one, because people want different things. In 2021, 69% of employees on them worked satisfactory hours, against 83% of other employees. [1] The 2017 review recommended keeping these contracts, while giving workers a right to request guaranteed hours. [5]
-
Employers are spending less on training
What happened
UK employers spent £53.0 billion on training in 2024. That was down from £59.0 billion in 2022 (in 2024 prices) and 18.5% less than in 2011. [7]
Why it matters
Training is one of the main ways people move from lower-paid to higher-paid work. If employers invest less, more of the cost and risk of gaining skills falls on individuals.
What the evidence shows
Opportunity varies with qualifications. In 2021, 60% of employees with an undergraduate degree reported good progression opportunities, compared with 47% of those with GCSE-level qualifications. [1] One caution: some of the fall in spending may reflect a shift to cheaper online training. [15]
-
Better-paid work is unevenly spread
What happened
The industries where people report the best chances to progress are disproportionately based in London. [1]
Why it matters
People can't always move to where the jobs are. Housing costs, family and caring responsibilities tie them to a place.
What the evidence shows
In 2021, 19% of employees in the North East were low paid on a UK-wide measure, compared with 8% in London. Measured against local pay, the picture flips: 16% in London and 10% in the North East, because pay within London varies so much. [1]
Who is affected most?
Most of the detailed breakdowns below come from an ONS study of 2021 data. Low pay has fallen since then, so treat them as a guide to who is most exposed, not as current levels.
Young people
In 2021, 15% of employees aged 16 to 20 were on zero-hours contracts, against fewer than 3% of all employees. Many are students: 7.5% of students were on these contracts, compared with 2.2% of non-students. [1]
Women
In 2021, 16% of women employees were low paid, compared with 10% of men. The ONS links this partly to women being more likely to work part-time. [1]
Part-time workers
In 2021, 8% of part-time employees were on zero-hours contracts, against 1% of full-timers. They were also less likely to see good chances to progress (40% against 59%). [1]
Disabled people
In 2021, 47% of disabled employees reported good progression opportunities, compared with 57% of non-disabled employees. [1]
Service and care workers
In 2021, 14% of employees in accommodation and food services were on zero-hours contracts. Low pay was most common in elementary jobs, sales and customer service, and caring and leisure roles. [1]
Why is it hard to fix?
Almost everyone agrees that better jobs would be a good thing. The difficulty is that each fix has a cost or a side effect.
-
Better conditions cost money
The problem
Higher minimum pay and stronger rights raise employers' costs, and some may respond by hiring fewer people or cutting hours. The government's own analysis put the cost of its Employment Rights Bill to business at up to £5 billion a year, and the independent Regulatory Policy Committee judged that analysis "not fit for purpose". Ministers said £5 billion was the top of the range, with a central estimate nearer £1 billion. [16]
Unemployment was around 5% in early 2026 [3], and critics argue that a weak jobs market is a risky time to add to employers' costs. [16]
A possible fix
Introduce changes in stages and track what happens to jobs. Past experience offers some reassurance: in 2020 the Office for Budget Responsibility said there was limited evidence that earlier minimum wage rises had significantly affected overall employment. [17] That does not guarantee the same result for bigger changes in a weaker jobs market.
-
Rights only help if they are enforced
The problem
A right that is not enforced is worth little. People in insecure jobs may be reluctant to complain if they fear losing shifts, and enforcement has been split between several different bodies. [12]
A possible fix
A single Fair Work Agency was set up in April 2026 to bring the existing enforcement bodies together and take on holiday pay and sick pay. [12] It is too early to judge how well it works.
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One person's insecurity is another's flexibility
The problem
Some people choose zero-hours work because it fits around their other commitments. [2] A blanket ban would take that choice away. Doing nothing leaves others without the stable hours they need.
A possible fix
Give workers the right to guaranteed hours if they want them, plus reasonable notice of shifts and compensation for cancellations. This is planned under the Employment Rights Act 2025 and expected in 2027. As of October 2026, no date has been announced and the details are subject to consultation. [12]
-
Laws can set a floor, but can't create good jobs
The problem
Rules can stop the worst practices. They can't make a business more productive or put skilled jobs in a particular town. Lasting pay rises depend on the economy producing more, and UK productivity growth has been weak since 2008. [13]
A possible fix
Pair minimum standards with investment in skills, infrastructure and the conditions that help better jobs grow. This takes years, and the results are hard to predict.
Where people disagree
The facts above are mostly agreed. What they add up to is not.
It's a serious problem
- Average weekly earnings are an estimated £278 below their pre-2008 path. [3]
- Work no longer reliably keeps people out of poverty: around two-thirds of working-age adults in poverty live in a working household. [4]
- More than a million people have no guaranteed hours [2], and in 2021 over half of employees on zero-hours contracts were low paid. [1]
- Only 55% of employees said in 2021 that their job offered good chances to progress. [1]
- A quarter of UK workers say their job has a negative effect on their mental health, and a similar share say the same of their physical health. Excessive workloads are one of the strongest factors. [18]
It's overstated, or has other causes
- The share of jobs with low hourly pay is the lowest on record, at 2.5% in April 2025. [10]
- Most workers are satisfied with their job, whatever type of contract they are on. [19]
- Zero-hours contracts cover only around 3.5% of people in work [2], and the ONS says they are neither good nor bad in themselves. [1]
- The in-work poverty figure counts any household where someone works, including part-time. So it also reflects hours worked, family size and housing costs, not only the quality of jobs. [4]
- The root problem is weak productivity, which new employment rules won't fix [13] and which, critics say, extra costs on employers could make worse. [16]
On balance
The evidence does not support the idea that most UK jobs are bad. Most employees have suitable hours and the contract they want, and the share of jobs with low hourly pay is the lowest on record.
But for a sizeable minority, work is not delivering security or a decent standard of living. Pay has fallen well behind its pre-2008 path, more than a million people have no guaranteed hours, and most working-age adults in poverty live in a working household.
The real disagreement is about causes and cures: how much is down to weak productivity, how much to the balance of power between employers and workers, and how far new rules help or harm. For the options, see Creating better jobs.
Sources and further reading
These sources support the facts and examples on this page. They explain the evidence, but they don't all share the same view of how serious the problem is or what should be done about it.
- Office for National Statistics: Job quality in the UK – analysis of job quality indicators: 2021 (2022) — hours, contracts, zero-hours contracts, low pay, progression and employee involvement, with breakdowns by group. Based on 2021 data and labelled experimental by the ONS.
- House of Commons Library: Zero-hours contracts (2024) — how many people are on zero-hours contracts, how that has changed, and who is most likely to be on them.
- Resolution Foundation: Real wages on the cusp of shrinking for fourth time since financial crisis (2026) — average earnings compared with their pre-2008 path, and unemployment in early 2026.
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation: Progress expected to stall as deep poverty and child poverty reach record levels (2026) — summary of the UK Poverty 2026 report, including working-age adults in poverty who live in working households.
- GOV.UK: Good Work – the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices (2017) — the idea of "one-sided flexibility" and the recommendation to keep zero-hours contracts with added rights.
- Office for National Statistics: EMP17 – People in employment on zero hours contracts (updated quarterly) — the latest official count of people on zero-hours contracts.
- Department for Education: Employer Skills Survey 2024 (2025) — employer spending on training, in total and per employee, compared with 2022 and 2011.
- OECD: Survey of Adult Skills 2023 – England (United Kingdom) (2024) — the share of workers in England who are over-qualified for their job.
- Higher Education Policy Institute: Is England really the world champion in overqualification? (2024) — a critique of the OECD figure and how it was measured.
- Office for National Statistics: Low and high pay in the UK: 2025 (2025) — the share of employee jobs that are low paid by the hour.
- Low Pay Commission: The National Minimum Wage in 2024 (2024) — how far the minimum wage has risen in real terms since it was introduced.
- Acas: Employment Rights Act 2025 (2026) — what has already changed (sick pay, the Fair Work Agency) and what is planned for 2027.
- UK Statistics Authority: ONS written evidence to the Treasury Committee's inquiry on jobs, growth and productivity after coronavirus (2021) — UK productivity growth before and after 2008, and the main explanations for the slowdown.
- Department for Business and Trade: Trade union membership, UK, 1995 to 2024 – statistical bulletin (2025) — the share of employees who are union members.
- Learning and Work Institute: Falling short (2025) — analysis of the fall in employer training investment, including the possible role of cheaper online training.
- Hansard: Employment Rights – Impact on Businesses, Westminster Hall debate (16 September 2025) — MPs and the minister on the estimated cost of the Employment Rights Bill, the Regulatory Policy Committee's opinion, and the arguments for and against.
- Office for Budget Responsibility: The National Living Wage (2020) — the evidence on whether earlier minimum wage rises affected employment.
- CIPD: One in four workers say work has a negative impact on their health (2025) — survey findings on work, health and workloads.
- CIPD: Good Work Index (2025) — annual survey of job quality, including job satisfaction by contract type.
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