The opening of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities could easily be written about the UK labour market today. In many ways it is the “best of times”. The unemployment rate is at 5.1% – the lowest rate in over ten years. Over 260,000 net new jobs were created over the three months through November, and there are now over 1.7 million more people employed than before the financial crisis. The employment rate for the working-age population is 74% – the highest since records began in 1971. But by other measures, the labour market could be described as the “worst of times”. Wage growth......
