Experts discuss UK economic readjustment and building a sustainable recovery with Committee
On Tuesday 10 November at 3pm, the Economic Affairs Committee holds its penultimate evidence session on the Employment and COVID-19 inquiry. The first panel focuses on the nature of the economic readjustment, whilst the second panel focuses on building a sustainable economic recovery.
Meeting details
At 3:00pm: Oral evidence
Inquiry
Employment and COVID-19
At 4:00pm: Oral evidence
Inquiry
Employment and COVID-19
Likely questions
- How should the Government be judging the best time to withdraw employment support measures so that viable jobs are protected without unduly slowing labour market reallocation when vacancies rebound?
- Which trends have been accelerated by the pandemic, and what does this mean for the labour market and the economy over the longer term?
- Is the nature of economic readjustment from the crisis likely to be structural – for instance, the long-term decline of some sectors – or is it more likely that change will be more limited, for example to changes to flexible working practices for office workers?
- What are the implications of a an increasingly digital economy for both consumers and producers in the long-term?
- To what extent could trends such as automation and flexible working increase inequality – for instance, by type of employment, income, and region?
- With regards to the Government’s economic response to date, what successes can it claim and where has it fallen behind?
- With monetary policy reaching its limits, are active fiscal policies to stimulate demand now the key to macro-economic management?
- Given that the rise in unemployment is in part being driven by falling job vacancies, what does the Government need to do to shift its support from retaining employment to creating new jobs?
- What role should the state be playing in planning and delivering a recovery? How active and interventionist should it be? Where should the Government’s priorities be to invest in and create jobs?
- How important is a new Industrial Strategy and how much should we be thinking about it now?
- In its report Treating Students Fairly the Committee called for a better distribution of public funding across all forms and institutions in higher and further education. Would raising the status of all technical and higher education qualifications help to mitigate the impact of the crisis on young people?
- In what ways has the Government’s response to the pandemic aided, or contradicted, its long-term ‘levelling up’ agenda?