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ReWAGE expert has just published a new book, , in collaboration with colleague .

examines the myth that any job – no matter how insecure or poorly paid – is better than no job, considers why so many people in the UK are stuck in low-paid work with little chance of progression, and asks what can be done about it.

Description from the :

UK workers are stuck in a low-pay, low-productivity rut, with far too many people working in poor quality, insecure jobs, with little training or chance of getting on. In the book, the authors question the mantra that "work is the best way out of poverty" and examine the in-work poverty that now defines employment for many.

The state's engagement with people out of work is shown to ignore the needs of lone parents and disabled people and has little concern for skills and career progression. When coupled with the degradation of social infrastructure, such as childcare and transport, the barriers to quality work can become insurmountable.

Jones and Kumar's insightful analysis reveals the need to move away from positioning unemployment as a "behavioural problem" to be corrected by coercive labour market policies to one that considers the wider obstacles to better paid, quality jobs.

Ashwin Kumar is an Economist and Professor of Social Policy at Manchester Metropolitan University. He sits on a number of ReWAGE’s sub-groups.

Idleness is part of a series by on each of Beveridge's five giants: squalor, disease, ignorance, want and idleness by , , , ,