UK youth employment crisis: The perfect storm of 2025
By Nick Litsardopoulos, Research Economist, IES. The UK labour market faces unprecedented challenges with unemployment, particularly for young workers and graduates. What emerges is a troubling picture of declining opportunities, structural shifts, and a generation at risk. The Demand Collapse The UK labour market has experienced a persistent downward trend in job demand over the Continued »
Rethinking the productivity–pay relationship: Implications for innovation policy
By Nick Litsardopoulos, Research Economist, IES. The 2025 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was recently awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt “for having explained innovation–driven economic growth.” Their work continues a long tradition, beginning with Schumpeter’s “gale of creative destruction”, recognising technological innovation as a transformative Continued »
Behind the “Record High” wages: What job listings aren’t telling London workers
By Nick Litsardopoulos, Research Economist, IES. An analysis of advertised salaries of job vacancies in London Following the National Minimum Wage increase of 6.7% in April 2025, average advertised salaries showed the strongest pay growth since mid-2022, and news headlines saying that salaries have reached new record highs. However, living costs have also risen during Continued »
Closing the Inactivity Gap: Supporting Women in the UK Workforce
By Meghna Sharma, Research Economist at IES. Since April 2024, employers faced higher National insurance contributions and rises in National Living Wages leading to a real increase in labour costs especially in low to mid-pay jobs. Sectors such as administrative & support services, health & social work, education, transportation & storage, and public admin & Continued »
The paradox of AI and qualification requirements
By Nick Litsardopoulos, Research Economist at IES. The skills-based hiring revolution The impact of AI on qualification requirements presents an interesting paradox that varies significantly between occupational sectors and job roles. However, what looks similar across industries and occupations is the need for a familiarity with Ai technologies and tools. The data reveals a complexity Continued »
A tale of two markets: Professional, scientific and technical job market trends in the UK and US
By Nick Litsardopoulos, Research Economist at IES. Analysing the divergent paths of UK and US professional, scientific, and technical employment opportunities The ‘Professional, scientific and technical activities’ industrial sector has become a bellwether for economic health and innovation capabilities among the most technologically advanced countries. The sector comprises of establishments that specialise in performing professional, Continued »
The unintended consequences of good intentions: How recent UK employment policy changes are reshaping the jobs market
By Nick Litsardopoulos, Research Economist at IES. When Good Intentions Meet Market Reality The recent changes in the UK National Insurance Contribution (NIC) and the National Minimum Wage have shifted the dynamics jobs market and in crated a new environment that employers and employees need to navigate. The changes represent well-intentioned efforts to boost worker Continued »
From Port Talbot to Scunthorpe: Inside the fight to save British steel
By Nick Litsardopoulos, Research Economist at IES. In this blog, we will look at trends for manufacturing jobs in the areas with a strong presence of the British steel industry. To do this, we can use Adzuna’s Labour Market Intelligence portal, that displays a wide range of aggregate statistics based on all the vacancy listings Continued »
Where has “Big Data” gone?
By Helena Saenz de Juano Ribes, Research Economist at IES. “Big Data“ emerged as a term to describe the massive datasets that were challenging to process, manage, and analyse using traditional database and software techniques. These datasets were defined by their immense size, diverse formats, rapid generation, and the potential insights they held for businesses. Continued »