Key recommendations

• Policy needs to change and broaden to address the current economy and labour market through confronting productivity problems in everyday sectors and everyday jobs.
• The UK should establish and implement a broader approach for economic development and innovation strategy that encompasses the bulk of the economy and employment, including skills creation and utilisation, job quality, workplace innovation, digital adoption and exporting.
• There needs to be a focus on managerial capacity, improving the employment relationship, job quality and fair work.
• Design and develop integrated packages of diagnostic help, followed up by the growth of support services to aid business improvement and workplace innovation.
• Collect learnings from overseas practice, and from the efforts of the devolved nations on Fair Work and economic development.
• Close off access to employment practices that undercut labour standards and good employers by having labour regulation or an employment law enforcement regime.
• Implement carefully evaluated pilots to test out different approaches at local and sectoral levels.
• It is important to recognise that this is a long-term project and it will take time to generate cumulative effects on performance and outcomes.