Revealed: the SEVEN new classes of worker in the modern British economy

• “Strivers”, “idealists” and “acutely precariat” among the new classes uncovered by researchers’ interviews and a Populus survey of 2,000 people.
• Think-tank issues stark warning that economic insecurity is “the new normal” as the digital economy gathers pace, with 40% of working Brits holding under £1000 in savings. 
• Government must give the self-employed maternity/paternity leave, devolve the Living Wage to councils, and introduce universal childcare to address insecurity. 

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• 43% of workers do not have anyone in their household whom they could depend on to support them financially in the event of hardship.
• 32% in-work have less than £500 in savings, 41% have less than £1,000 and 29% are concerned with their level of debt.
• less than half of employees (44%) feel they have progressed within their careers over the last five years, and only 40% feel they have good opportunities to progress in future.

• The Chronically Precarious: the reliably broke, this group is typically on a steady contract albeit with low pay. 60% have less than £1,000 saved and they have low job satisfaction and little autonomy at work. Typical job: sales assistant.
• The Acutely Precarious: typically broke and experience significant income ”yoyo-ing”. Work is low-paid and unlike the Chronic Precarious, irregular. This is a young group and 45% have a degree. Typical job: hospitality.
• The Flexi-workers: love their job, even if it doesn’t pay well: 83% are satisfied but 59% earn less than £21k. High levels of savings: many are redundant ‘second careerers’. Value autonomy above security. Typical job: freelance photographer.
• The Steady-Staters: feel well-treated (90%) and well-paid (69%), even if work is a means to an end. But they have low-savings, and rely on work for income so are vulnerable to a shock: their routine jobs are at high-risk of automation.Typical job: local govt admin.
• The Idealists: mid-earning, passionate and often millennials (50% under 35), 70% think they make a positive contribution to society. Most likely to rely on others e.g. parents for income. Urban and 25% have more than £10k saved. Typical job: charity worker. 
• The Strivers: regular job with high income and high savings, but they feel the link between hard work and fair pay is broken: 73% are stressed but only 20% think their pay reflects this. Typical job: senior train manager.
• The High-Flyers: the wealthiest group: 55% have more than £10k in savings. Successful at exploiting automation: most likely group to value new technology. High job security, high autonomy and high fulfilment. Typical job: director of an IT services business. 

• Giving councils a larger role in their local economy including by devolving the Living Wage to local authorities and/or Mayors. 
• Addressing low-pay, poor skills and job progression, and the effect on insecurity, through establishing powerful sectoral bodies to bring together employers and workers modelled on Swedish Job Security Councils. 
• Helping individuals adapt by increasing incentives to save and introducing personal budgets to retrain as automation hits: half of workers have had no training since they left school, the study notes.
• Expanding workplace rights for the growing self-employed – a key target group for both main political parties – by offering them state-funded paternity pay and/or adoption leave, funded by their National Insurance contributions.