From time to time a new phrase is coined. Sometimes the new phrase articulates a new solution, at other times it reinvigorates an old one, or – more cynically – masks it. In economic development we now have the phrase ‘inclusive growth’. Does inclusive growth represent a step change or is it just a new oxymoronic phrase for the failing cycle of growth and exclusion? Maybe it’s just semantics, a new term for the toxic ‘trickle down’? The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has recently shown that, while employment is growing, wages are not. Economic growth and work used to be a secure way out of poverty. This is no longer the case. We have a growing in-work ‘precariat’, with low wages and insecure work. Therefore, ‘inclusive growth’ is welcome, as it places attention on a local economic growth agenda that is imperfect and often fails to tackle local social issues. Furthermore, … (To read the full article, subscribe below)
Neil McInroy is chief executive of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES)
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