ABSTRACT
On the basis of projections to 2020, the UK labour market is forecast to keep its hourglass economy shape. At the top end the number of services jobs that are highly paid and highly skilled is expected to increase; likewise the number of low-wage, lower skills services jobs at the bottom. In the middle, the number of workers employed in manufacturing will decrease (Wilson and Homenidou 2011). With the hollowing out of the middle and the expansion in the number of jobs at the top and bottom, what appears to be emerging is not just an hourglass but a polarised labour market of good and bad jobs, or what Goos and Manning (2007) call lovely and lousy jobs. Such polarisation trends are not confined to the UK, but exist across the EU countries (Hurley et al. 2011) as well as the US (Kalleberg 2011). As such, the points that we make about women's progression opportunities in the UK may resonate more internationally, as we indicate in the chapter.
