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Obstacles in progressing are important both for people and for the economy

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Sarah Oconnor

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Youth inactivity is a problem in the UK, but we can learn from our past — and the countries that are getting it right

29.10.2025 3

Sarah Oconnor

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Capitalism is not giving me what I want, but I’m not behaving like a good free market consumer myself

22.10.2025 20

Sarah Oconnor

Are we about to enter an age of leisure? Don’t bet on it

Productivity gains won’t necessarily translate into the embrace of free time — especially in America

14.10.2025 9

Sarah Oconnor

The most radical Labour plan you haven’t heard about

Collective bargaining in social care could save an ailing sector — but only if it’s done properly

07.10.2025 20

Sarah Oconnor

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Pay attention to trends, extract what is useful and ignore bad-faith critics

30.09.2025 20

Sarah Oconnor

Are we on course to become a Little Brother society?

Trust in our peers could be the casualty as surveillance technology becomes smaller, smarter and cheaper

24.09.2025 20

Sarah Oconnor

What’s in a popular first name? Let this Sarah tell you . . .

Data suggests the drive towards individualism has increased the selection of monikers in recent decades

17.09.2025 8

Sarah Oconnor

Should a machine arbitrate a row with your boss?

In spite of its intuitive appeal, AI is not necessarily better than humans at resolving employment disputes

03.09.2025 10

Sarah Oconnor

The Dutch are quietly shifting towards a four-day work week

The Netherlands serves as a case study for the advantages and trade-offs of reduced hours in the workplace

26.08.2025 7

Sarah Oconnor

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Even LLMs are starting to show this worrying human tendency

12.08.2025 20

Sarah Oconnor

Dynamic wages make work a gamble

Ride-hailing and food-delivery companies’ new pay models use algorithms to decide bespoke fees

06.08.2025 20

Sarah Oconnor

The internet hates my apostrophe

It turns out I am not machine readable — but that might be an advantage in the future

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Sarah Oconnor

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Instead of retraining those who lose work, politicians could help people take matters into their own hands

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Regulators need to ask more questions about the people in the shadows

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Sarah Oconnor

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In AI, the message ‘act now or miss out’ has more in common with high-pressure sales than business strategy

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Sarah Oconnor

What has happened to Ukraine’s refugees?

Strong labour markets, high education levels and policies allowing immediate work have helped them succeed

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Sarah Oconnor

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They may look employer friendly but can stifle labour force fluidity and competition

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Sarah Oconnor

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It’s not necessarily correct that our cognitive skills decline as we get older

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Sarah Oconnor

‘Vibe coding’ is the new DIY

Large language models enable us all to create our own apps, but sometimes you need a professional

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Professionals are losing control of their work

Tools which monitor, direct or organise processes may reduce the scope for employees to try new ways of doing things

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Sarah Oconnor

Are female experts more credible?

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Sarah Oconnor

The minimum wage is now coming for white-collar work

It’s not destroying jobs but it is catching up with the lower rungs of graduate roles

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Sarah Oconnor

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Companies were using automated screening earlier, but applicants’ adoption of the tools is now causing problems

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What can workers do if they’re fired by AI?

Automated decisions are a source of under-appreciated tension in the UK government’s approach to low-paid employees

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The US may be reversing course on child labour

Acute strain on the jobs market has encouraged some states to consider reducing restrictions on employing minors

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Sarah Oconnor

A white-collar world without juniors?

Professional business models may need to change if novices lose the opportunities to learn and progress when AI takes over their work

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Sarah Oconnor

Why do people keep buying printers they hate?

A puzzling tale of capitalism and consumer psychology at a time of technological change

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What bankers and care home workers have in common

Volatile pay is surprisingly prevalent in the British economy

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Sarah Oconnor

Students must learn to be more than mindless ‘machine-minders’

Generative AI is a tempting short-cut that can prevent those at university from gaining foundational skills

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Whatever happened to the great truck driver shortage?

The underlying problems behind the crisis have not yet been resolved

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Sarah Oconnor

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Simply adding a human review process to an algorithmic decision doesn’t make tricky trade-offs disappear

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Sarah Oconnor

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Manufacturers promising greater safety have a problem: human drivers set the bar higher than you might think

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Eye-catching boosterism about employment from new projects does not always stand up to scrutiny

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Sarah Oconnor

Age is more than a number when it comes to policy

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How much sick pay is too much sick pay?

The contrasting cases of Germany and the UK are revealing about policy trade-offs

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Technology has changed the way many of us consume information, from complex pieces of writing to short video clips

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The gig economy is coming to a shop near you

Apps that let retailers hire freelance staff by the shift are increasing in popularity

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Economists need to get their story straight on immigration

Focusing on the impact on the wages or employment levels of native workers is too narrow

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Sarah Oconnor

We’re all suffering from qualitynesia now

Borne along on the tide of technology, it is far too easy to forget that some things really were better quality in the past

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People understand that transitions are hard — politicians need to as well

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Can Labour improve job quality without squandering quantity?

Big policy interventions are always a leap in the dark

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Sarah Oconnor

The very human problem with not-quite-self-driving cars

The better an automated system performs, the more complacent — and dangerous — we become

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Why the job ladder matters for migrants

Sarah Oconnor

Lessons from success: how job prospects improved for the young

Sarah Oconnor

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Sarah Oconnor

Are we about to enter an age of leisure? Don’t bet on it

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Why do people keep buying printers they hate?

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What bankers and care home workers have in common

Sarah Oconnor

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