Menu

Articles

Continued innovation in research methods

By Blandine Emilien and Christopher Pesterfield, Giorgos Gouzoulis and Vanessa Beck

Issue 36 // 8th July 2026

This issue of Future of Work argues that improving and innovating research methods is essential for producing more accurate, ethical, and meaningful evidence about the experiences of vulnerable workers and shaping the future of work. Read more of the article

Multiple job holding: a critical quantitative methodology

By Darja Reuschke and Tracey Warren

Issue 36 // 8th July 2026

Multiple job holding is far more common than official statistics suggest, and better definitions and administrative data are needed to accurately understand who works multiple jobs and why. Read more of the article

Innovative methods, familiar blind spots

By Jennifer Whillans

Issue 36 // 8th July 2026

Improved data alone cannot reveal when women work unless research methods and assumptions stop treating men's work patterns as the default and analyse women's experiences on their own terms. Read more of the article

From rates to risk: How machine learning can reveal the workers official statistics cannot see

By Luis D. Torres

Issue 36 // 8th July 2026

Linked data and machine learning can shift labour market analysis from retrospectively measuring unemployment to proactively identifying workers at risk, provided these tools are governed ethically and combined with qualitative research. Read more of the article

Modern slavery and knowledge production: Lived experience as expertise

By Christopher Pesterfield and Brandon Thomas

Issue 36 // 8th July 2026

Although UK modern slavery policy now calls for involving people with lived experience, it leaves major ethical and practical gaps, raising difficult questions about how to do this meaningfully without causing harm or exploitation. Read more of the article

Story completion: A novel, creative method for exploring perceptions and understandings of work and employment-related phenomena

By Victoria Clarke, Kara Daly and Gemma Pike and Vanessa Beck

Issue 36 // 8th July 2026

Story completion is a qualitative method where participants write fictional narratives in response to a researcher-designed prompt, enabling exploration of social meanings and perceptions—especially around sensitive topics—without relying on direct self-report. Read more of the article

Bricolage

By Giorgos Gouzoulis, Vanessa Beck, Blandine Emilien and Christopher Pesterfield

Issue 35 // 20th April 2026

This issue departs from the usual themed approach, instead presenting a diverse collection of articles on unions and Big Tech, worker assetisation, and AI, reflecting the broad and evolving concerns shaping the future of work. Read more of the article

How Big Tech threatens European capitalism and what Europe and unions can do about it

By Andreas Kornelakis

Issue 35 // 20th April 2026

European labour market liberalisation and financialisation have weakened job quality and fuelled crises, while the rise of Big Tech and digitalisation now threatens workers’ rights further, highlighting the need for stronger, coordinated EU regulation and industrial policy. Read more of the article

The Employment Rights Act Improves Trade Union Recognition: Amazon workers in Coventry helped make this happen

By Tom Vickers and Stuart Richards

Issue 35 // 20th April 2026

The Employment Rights Act strengthens workers’ ability to gain union recognition and counters employer anti-union tactics, largely shaped by the struggles of Amazon Coventry workers. Read more of the article

Invested, not employed: Assetisation and the reconfiguration of work

By Pau López-Gaitán

Issue 35 // 20th April 2026

Assetization transforms workers into income-generating assets, reshaping employment, shifting financial risks onto labour, and blurring the boundary between people and the value extracted from them. Read more of the article