This paper draws together and provides further analysis of two research projects commissioned by the Department of Employment, with a focus on employers' labour use strategies in Britain. It seeks to place on a firmer statistical basis arguments about the presence and growth of the ‘flexible firm’, and it draws also on case‐study data to explore some of the issues relating to flexibility and strategy. Our conclusions are that there has been a marked absence of strategy in this area, and reasons for this are explored, as are the implications for gender and segmentation in the labour market.

Sum m ary. The increasin g spatial con centration of the disad van taged has resulted in the isolatio n of m any individ uals and households from m ainstream social and econ om ic activitie s. This paper is con cern ed with the exclusion of these individ uals from the labour m ark et. This in turn con stitu tes a con siderab le barrier to the ability of individ uals and households to access services , facilitie s and netw ork s in the wider econ om y and society. Recognis ing the impact of w ider m acroeco nom ic forces, the paper review s and assesses policies aim ed to address this problem at the neigh bourhood level. Program m es con sidered include the creation of em ploym ent opportu nities w ithin disad van taged neigh bourhood s and those w hich aim to build links betw een these areas and the w ider labour mark et. The poten tial con trib ution of housing program m es and exp enditure is assessed . The com plex nature of the problem is highligh ted lead ing to an emphasis on the need for multi-secto ral solu tion s.

No abstract

The onset of the 'Great Recession' from 2008 was associated with a significant increase in long-term unemployment among young people. Work-welfare cycling has been put forward as a contributory factor. Drawing on a large-scale survey of long-term unemployed young people, this article argues that segmented labour market theory provides a strong explanatory framework for understanding the nature of long-term unemployment among young people, with the literature on work-welfare cycling contributing to an understanding of one of the processes by which precarious employment impacts on employability and labour supply. A second key finding is the heterogeneous nature of the young long-term unemployed, which in turn requires policy responses more customised to the needs of the different groups.