ABSTRACT
Twenty years ago Britain’s labour market was widely supposed to be the major stumbling block to improved economic performance. The belief embraced both the nature of the country’s idiosyncratic labour market institutions, and the extent to which the tax and benefit system interfered with economic incentives towards work and enterprise. The evidence cited included an inferior record on the inflationary effects of the two great supply-side shocks of the 1970s, lower productivity growth, a higher incidence of strikes, and lower levels of labour force skills and training provision.
