14Esther McVey

The Northern Powerhouse

DRIVE down your high street, past your local pub or shop and you’ll see the sign “vacancies – apply within”. From hospitality to construction, education to IT, there are literally hundreds of thousands of job vacancies – more than 1.3 million in fact. That’s half a million more now than before Covid. In fact it’s the exact same number as those classed as unemployed in this country. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could just match all those vacancies with all the unemployed and get everyone working?

But why are there so many job vacancies, particularly as we hit a cost of living crisis? What is going on? Has laziness kicked in after two years of lockdown, furlough and working from home? Or are the wages and working conditions of jobs on offer not good enough?

During the first lockdown I’d hear people say they were re-evaluating their lives – they were going to get off the conveyor belt of life. They didn’t want to go back to working as hard as they did preCovid. Personally, I couldn’t wait for normal working to resume!

Maybe I’m in the minority, as a new “four-day week” experiment is about to begin this June – in which 3,000 British workers from 60 companies will participate – all getting paid their regular wage for just four days work to “see if it helps retain and attract staff”.

Call me a cynic, but what will this experiment really prove? That people are happy to be paid for five days and work four. Well of course they are, but doesn’t it also suggest those companies were underpaying their staff and really they should be giving them a pay rise and allow them to continue working a five-day week if they want? I know I’d sooner work the fifth day, get a pay rise, and put some money away for a rainy day.

Some might say the five-day working week only came about to cut the number of unemployed in the States in 1932 after the Great Depression. So why not go to a four-day working week in the UK in 2022 to meet the desire for a better work-life balance? New working patterns to fit the age.

But as my grandma used to say, if it sounds too good to be true, it invariably is. This experiment to reduce the working week for the benefit of workers, certainly sounds too good to be true to me.

YOU’LL know about NIMBYs (not in my back yarders) but have you heard of YIMBY (yes in my back yard)?

These are 25-34 year olds who can’t get on the housing ladder and are looking for more homes to be built. I have every sympathy with them.

This group had about a 60 per cent chance of getting on the ladder in 2003/4, a 40 per cent chance in 2019 and it’s shrinking further as the average price of a first-time home is now £250,000 and average deposits are £60k.

No wonder the YIMBY movement is growing among the under 40s, and politicians would be wise to heed them.

STUDENTS from Sheffield University were fuming after striking lecturers had offered them free Pilates classes to help relieve their stress and to make up for all the lessons they had missed due to their strike action. I’ve got a better suggestion for university lecturers... how about getting back to work and doing your job?

I HAVE just spotted my perfect holiday – although it won’t be ready until 2025 as it is still being built.

It’s Therme in Manchester, a 28-acre wellbeing resort with warm lagoons, tropical areas, mineral baths and steam rooms.

Warm, relaxing and on my doorstep... what’s not to like?

Best of all I can avoid the airports and the airlines.