ABSTRACT
In Chapter 3, we emphasised that the workplace changes triggered by the drive towards flexibility have threatened many of the ‘job features’ which are strongly valued by employees, including job security, control over the pace and flow of work, and the enjoyment of reasonable working hours. But as we shall see, other features of the archetypal ‘good job’ have also been threatened by the flexible reorganisation of work. We begin this chapter with a brief description of the de-layering of occupational hierarchies, as manifest in the UK and US labour markets during the 1980s and 1990s. Drawing on the findings of the JIWIS, we then move to a more detailed exploration of its impact on people’s promotion and career prospects. We also examine the growing disparity in earnings and the extent to which people feel that they are no longer being paid ‘a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work’.
