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Ian Brinkley

Ian Brinkley

Ian is Director of The Work Foundation, having joined The Work Foundation in June 2006. He was formerly Director of the Knowledge Economy Programme and Director of Socio-Economic Programmes.

Ian has worked in a wide range of economic and industrial policy and research areas, including: economic policy; public spending and public service reform; labour markets; energy and the environment; and manufacturing policy. He has produced numerous submissions to government and analytical papers.

  • Labour market

    What is the true extent of Labour Market slack?

    16th February 2012 — Filed under: Labour market

    Ian Brinkley Ian Brinkley

    The TUC recently published a report showing that there were in fact 6.3 million unemployed compared with the 2.7 million on the international standardised measure used by the International Labour Office (ILO).  This is 2.3 times higher than the standard ILO measure.

    The TUC measure is not however a measure of unemployment. It is based on a definition adopted by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) called “U6” which provides a measure of labour market slack. This includes those unemployed by ILO definitions, but adds some people who are classified as economically inactive by ILO definitions (not in work or ILO unemployed) who say they want a job and people who are working part time but who say they would like to work full time.

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  • Economics

    Where will growth come from?

    9th November 2009 — Filed under: Economics

    Ian Brinkley Ian Brinkley

    Ian Brinkley will be speaking at Beyond Crisis, a TUC / Guardian one-day conference on progressive responses to the financial crisis on 16 Nov in Central London. Register for free tickets at www.tuc.org.uk/beyondcrisis

    The most recent growth figures (GDP) are a reminder that economic forecasting is a mug’s game. They show the UK economy was still contracting in the third quarter of 2009. Taking other indicators into account, we are still likely to be at a turning point and the numbers may well be revised upwards later this year.

    But it is a salutary reminder of how easily hopes of an early recovery can be dashed. We have even less idea of the shape of the recovery – whether it will be a V, W or some other letter. The longer-term impact of the credit crunch on investment and consumer spending and the effectiveness of measures to free up the supply of credit – including “quantitative easing” – are still unknown. The only thing we can be fairly sure of is that the recovery in output to pre-recession levels will take no more than 4 years (a similar period to the Great Depression in the 1930s).

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