The new work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, should look to the City for ideas on getting 9m adults back into work, says Matthew Elliott

Britain’s growth problem is evident to everyone. Since the global financial crisis of 2008, GDP per capita has expanded at barely half a per cent a year – a fraction of the long-run average. Productivity has flatlined, wages have stagnated and living standards have slipped behind many of our peers. The big question for policymakers is how to break out of this cycle.

The answer must lie in the over 9m adults in the UK currently economically inactive or on welfare. Moving people from welfare to work is set to be one of the top policy issues this Autumn. The new Work and Pensions Secretary, Pat McFadden, will be responding to Sir Charlie Mayfield’s report on how to support those with long-term sickness back into the workforce, and it is paramount for Rachel Reeves to stem the ballooning welfare bill to make her figures add up in the Budget.

Worklessness

This, of course, will only happen if businesses are able to provide the right jobs and training for people to fill. Worklessness figures have been heading in the wrong direction, with nearly 200,000 individuals falling out of payrolled employment over the past year. Government measures like the Employment Rights........

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