L

Lord Katz (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 11 June 2025

Debate

United Kingdom Jobs Market

Contribution

I thank the noble Baroness for her question. She is right to identify the huge personal impact of long periods of economic inactivity and joblessness, as well as the obvious deleterious economic impact. The Government’s Get Britain Working White Paper sets out a bold and comprehensive vision to tackle that inactivity and build an inclusive labour market. As well as wanting to raise the UK’s employment rate to over 80%, it aims to modernise employment support. We have set out a number of trailblazers—including the first pathfinder, launched just last week in Wakefield—as part of a commitment to create a new jobs and careers service, which will shift the focus of the jobcentre system from box-ticking to job finding. It is a sad fact that only 9% of employers currently recruit through jobcentres. That is too few; they should become recruiters of choice. Our plan in the Get Britain Working White Paper is designed to make that happen.

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