Kirsten Sehnbruch Quality of Employment

COVID-19, Inequalities and the Future of Work

February 8 2021

COVID-19, Inequalities and the Future of Work

Hosted by the International Inequalities Institute 

The COVID pandemic has led to rapid changes in labour markets across the world. Some workers have used digital technology to work from home. But for many workers, particularly the low-paid, this has been impossible. Meanwhile, job losses have been worst the least well off. Because of this, there are concerns that the pandemic has exacerbated inequality. What does COVID mean for the future of work? Will it speed up employment polarisation? Or be a leveller, with low wage workers benefiting from greater use of technology? This event will interrogate the questions.

Speakers: Aveek Bhattacharya (Chief Economist at the Social Market Foundation), The Rt Hon. Yvette Cooper MP (Chair of the Fabian Commission of Work and Technology), and Professor Kirsten Sehnbruch (British Academy Global Professor and Distinguished Policy Fellow, III)

Chair: Professor Neil Lee (Professor of Economic Geography, LSE; Associate, III)

Watch the video here

Listen to the podcast here

Read Kirsten Sehnbruch’s slides here

Read the ‘Sharing the Future’ report here

Read Aveek Bhattacharya’s slides here

This event had live captioning and BSL interpreters.