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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

From Employees to Assets: Assetisation, LinkedIn, and the Future of Work

By Paul Richard

Issue 35 // 20th April 2026

LinkedIn exemplifies how workers are increasingly encouraged to treat their online identities as assets, enabling organizations to extract value from employees’ personal brand, networks, and self-presentation beyond their formal labour. Read more of the article

Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: the ‘Friend Yet Foe’ Paradox

By Xiaoting Luo and Christopher Pesterfield

Issue 35 // 20th April 2026

Students use AI as both a helpful tool and a questionable shortcut, valuing its efficiency while risking the erosion of critical skills they need for future work. Read more of the article

When workers meet borders: Contestation, exploitation and ideologies

By Jonathan Preminger and Blandine Emilien

Issue 34 // 27th January 2026

This editorial introduces a special issue examining borders as ideological and institutional instruments of power that shape labour, mobility, exploitation and inequality across diverse global contexts. Read more of the article