Reducing economic inactivity in the UK:  An economic and political imperative - Professor Christina Beatty

Date: 19 February 2025
Time: 18:00 -19:30
Speaker: Professor Christina Beatty 
Talk Title: 'Reducing economic inactivity in the UK:  An economic and political imperative'
Location: Ramsden Room, St Catharine's College

The seminar series is supported by the Cambridge Political Economy Society and the Economics and Policy Group at the Cambridge Judge Business School.

Here is copy of the PRESENTATION (please note that presentations should not be quoted or copied without the express permission of the author)

Talk Overview:
Economic inactivity has increasingly come to the fore of contemporary political and policy debates. Unemployment is low, vacancies are high and labour shortages in specific sectors are common, and yet employment rates remain stubbornly below pre-pandemic levels. Central to understanding this conundrum is the substantial increase in the number of working age adults who are not actively participating in the labour market – those neither in employment nor unemployed.  The UK labour market has therefore emerged from the pandemic with an economic inactivity problem rather than an unemployment problem.  However, national assessments of the issue often only provide an aggregate overview, whereas in reality a very distinct economic geography underpins the phenomenon.  If national, regional and local government are to understand the trends, and develop policy solutions to address the issue, then the geography of economic inactivity needs to be recognised.  Christina Beatty will draw on a range of research projects to illustrate the geography of economic inactivity in Britain and factors associated with recent observed trends in both the benefits system and the Labour Force Survey. The evidence presented questions whether the political rhetoric driving recent policy direction to increase the conditionality requirements for Universal Credit claimants is likely to have the desired effect of increasing labour market participation.

Speaker Overview::
Christina is a Professor of Applied Economic Geography in the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) at Sheffield Hallam University. She is a social statistician by background with over 30 years’ experience of undertaking applied policy research. Christina is particularly interested in the intersection of welfare reform, labour markets, and housing policy in Britain. Her research often seeks to highlight the sub-regional impacts and unintended consequences of national policy decisions for different types of places in varied local economic contexts. Her research often focuses on the uneven impact of welfare reform; the dynamics of hidden unemployment and incapacity benefits; older industrial Britain; former coalfield areas; and Britain’s seaside towns. Christina has also worked on a number of large scale national policy evaluations for several central government departments. These include: The New Deal for Communities Evaluation; the Evaluation of Reforms to Local Housing Allowance System; and the 2023 Supported Housing Review.