Making the Best of a Bad Job - a podcast by BBC Radio 4

David Goodhart considers whether the declining status of basic jobs can be halted and even reversed.

Successive governments have prioritised widening access to higher education to try to drive social mobility, without giving much thought to the impact this has on the expectations of young people who, for whatever reason, are not going to take that path.But even in a knowledge-based economy, the most basic jobs survive. Offices still need to be cleaned, supermarket shelves stacked, and care home residents looked after.

The best employers know how to design these jobs to make them more satisfying. Are politicians finally waking up to the problem?Contributors in order of appearance:

Caroline Lloyd, professor and industrial relations specialist at the University of CardiffDonna Braithwaite, supermarket worker
Bill Mumford, chief executive of care charity MacIntyreGeoff Dench, sociologist and founder of the charity Men for Tomorrow.
Sir Peter Lampl, founder of the Sutton TrustAndrew Oswald, professor of economics at the University of Warwick
Josie Zerafa, cashier at Iceland supermarketTracey Vella, cashier at Iceland supermarket
Sandra McNamara, store manager at Iceland supermarketProducer: Ruth Alexander.

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