Jobs and the workforce

On today’s episode of Committee Corridor we continue our look at the cost-of-living crisis and turn to jobs and workforce concerns.

There are hundreds of thousands of job vacancies in some of the UK’s most critical sectors. Health, education and transport all face challenges in recruiting and retaining key staff.

To examine the situation further, we spoke to Christina McAnea, the head of UNISON, one of the UK’s largest trade unions with over a million members in the private and public sector. She describes the emerging challenges faced by her members during this cost of living crisis.

We then spoke to two select committee members, @IanMearnsMP and @gregsmith_uk.

Ian Mearns is the Labour MP for Gateshead, and a longtime member of the education committee. They've been looking at careers’ education and the future of post-16 qualifications. The Committee published a report on special educational needs and disabilities in 2019, which took more than 500 pieces of written evidence into account.

Greg Smith is the Conservative MP for Buckingham, and sits on the transport committee.  They recently published a report on another sector coping with the shortage of workers; HGV drivers, who we rely on to deliver essential goods like fuel and food around the UK. They've also been looking at the disruption caused by rail strikes.

Your host is @darrenpjones, the chair of the Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee.

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