Sarah Cardell, the CMA CEO, launched a new report on UK labour markets on 25 January, 2024, in a speech at Durham University. The event took place both in person and online. On February 29, Joel Kariel (CMA) gave a DREAM internal seminar, on how the report was conducted.
This report, titled Competition and Market Power in UK Labour Markets, is the first report from the CMA’s Microeconomics Unit. The Microeconomics Unit is the CMA’s centre for research on competition, innovation and productivity and is based on the Government’s new Darlington Economic Campus. In a dynamic and changing labour market, this report looks at the extent of labour market power and concentration in the UK economy in the last 25 years, and differences across regions and occupations. The report also considers the impact of the gig economy, employment law and hybrid working on the changing nature of work in the UK, using novel survey and text data.
At the event, Sarah outlined why the CMA is taking an interest in labour markets and presented the findings of the report, the first of its kind for the UK. Labour markets are a new area for competition authorities globally and Sarah explained what this report means for the CMA’s work and priorities. In addition to an open Q&A session with Sarah following her speech, there was an opportunity to discuss the findings directly with the authors of the report.
This event was kindly hosted by Durham University and Professors Spyros Galanis & Kieran Fernandes, recognising their partnership with the CMA’s Microeconomics Unit.
Thursday 25 January, 13:30 – 15:00, CLC407 – Calman Learning Centre, Durham University