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Sarah O'Connor

Employment columnist

Sarah O'Connor is a columnist, reporter and associate editor at the Financial Times. She writes a weekly column focused on the world of work, as well as longer reported articles.

She joined the FT in 2007 and has covered the US economy from Washington DC, the UK economy from London and the financial crisis from Iceland.

Email Sarah O'Connor @sarahoconnor_  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)

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  • Monday, 9 October, 2023
    FT News Briefing podcast11 min listen
    Israel responds to historic Hamas attack

    The death toll from Hamas’s unprecedented multi-front assault on Israel passed 600 on Sunday

  • Tuesday, 26 September, 2023
    Employment
    Net zero was never going to be an easy win for workers

    The green transition will be hard and involve trade-offs policymakers would rather not talk about

    James Ferguson illustration of miners’ helmets left rusting in a field, with wind turbines set against a blue sky behind them
  • Tuesday, 19 September, 2023
    UK employment
    Why don’t people leave bad jobs?

    Giving workers a bit more security might make the labour market more flexible, not less

    A man and a woman ponder as they look at a door marked ‘exit’
  • Tuesday, 12 September, 2023
    Employment
    Experiments are key for more grown-up industrial relations

    In the UK, the Labour party’s commitment to sectoral collective bargaining could bring positive changes

    Montage image showing two workers, one dressed in high-viz with a helmet and clipboard. The other is in hospital scrubs with a stethoscope
  • Tuesday, 22 August, 2023
    Minimum-Living wage
    The minimum wage has passed the high inflation test

    It reduces pay inequality while employment doesn’t suffer — even if productivity is not boosted

    Three piles of gold coins against a background of blue block graph paper
  • Tuesday, 15 August, 2023
    Office life
    Beware of performative policymaking

    There’s a lesson for politicians in the fate of laws introduced around the world establishing a ‘right to disconnect’

    A man anxiously rubbing his temples as he looks at a laptop, with the words ‘log out’ emblazoned behind him
  • Tuesday, 8 August, 2023
    UK labour productivity
    In praise of the ‘techies’ who make companies more productive

    As it stands on the verge of the next industrial revolution, Britain needs people who can put new technology to good use

    A man and a woman wear high-visibility vests and hard hats and carry notepads
  • Tuesday, 25 July, 2023
    UK Inequality
    Globalisation is not to blame for Britain’s insecurity problem

    The country’s precarious low-wage jobs and shortage of affordable housing are hardly the fault of international forces

  • Tuesday, 18 July, 2023
    Social affairs
    Some people need to be nudged into saving

    Successful trials in the UK are a useful reminder of the protective power of the ‘rainy day fund’

    FT montage image showing coins dropping into a piggy bank
  • Tuesday, 11 July, 2023
    Health
    It’s time to relearn the lost art of leisure

    We should prioritise rest now, rather than waiting for an automated future that may never arrive

    A person reclines on a hammock while reading a book
  • Monday, 3 July, 2023
    Global Economy
    There is more to life and death than GDP

    Economic growth isn’t the only way to compare how well countries are doing

  • Tuesday, 27 June, 2023
    UK mortgage rates
    Why higher rates risk reigniting intergenerational conflict

    A cohort of people in their mid-30s have probably been pummelled twice by monetary policy over the past decade

    Montage of images of a house, with pound coins floating in the background and a graph line charting the rise in interest rates across the front
  • Tuesday, 20 June, 2023
    UK politics
    Politicians must send the right signals on ‘green’ jobs

    Without clear incentives from government, demand for employment in the decarbonisation effort will continue to lag behind

    Montage image showing two workers with fluorescent jackets and hard hats looking over a laptop, with wind farms and solar panels in the background
  • Sunday, 18 June, 2023
    FT SeriesAI in the workplace
    AI shakes up way we work in three key industries

    Professional services, filmmaking and coding are among the first to use the technology in everyday operations

    A montage of the Hollywood sign, professionals checking documents and a person writing computer code
  • Tuesday, 13 June, 2023
    Employment
    Why ‘harvested by hand’ labels bother me

    Supermarket claims about the use of human labour rather than machines give us too little information

    A seasonal worker holding a crop of berries in both hands
  • Tuesday, 6 June, 2023
    Working from home
    How the digital nomad went corporate

    The romanticism of work on the move has collided with the realities of tax and immigration

    FT montage of a woman working at a laptop with a cityscape showing through one window and a beach through another
  • Thursday, 1 June, 2023
    Economists Exchange
    Andrew Scott: ‘We have to invest much more in our future selves’

    We’ve never expected people to be living into their 10th decade, so we’ve never planned for it. Now that must change

    Illustration showing Sarah O’Connor and Andrew Scott
  • Tuesday, 30 May, 2023
    Work & Careers
    Don’t bet against the ‘suitcase principle’ of white-collar work

    Humans have a remarkable ability to create jobs for themselves — whatever the progress of technology

  • Wednesday, 24 May, 2023
    Artificial intelligence
    Let’s not write people off as ‘AI losers’

    The idea that the outcome of technological change is inevitable is both dangerous and untrue

  • Tuesday, 9 May, 2023
    Working from home
    The ability to work from home does not just benefit the elite

    More flexibility has improved work-life balance for many since the pandemic began

    Montage showing chart lines and a woman working on her laptop
  • Tuesday, 2 May, 2023
    UK society
    People are numb to big numbers

    Millions, billions, trillions — the human brain isn’t wired to comprehend information on a large scale

    A montage of two people deep in thought with random figures scattered around them
  • Tuesday, 25 April, 2023
    UK employment
    Let’s enforce existing labour market laws before we write new ones

    The UK lags behind the rest of the developed world in ensuring compliance with regulations

  • Tuesday, 18 April, 2023
    EU immigration
    Why countries are jostling to attract migrant workers

    Labour shortages and demographic pressures fuel competition for skilled people

  • Tuesday, 4 April, 2023
    EU employment
    How Spain has taken on the problem of precarious work

    A country famous for temporary jobs is experimenting with new types of contract to boost permanent employment

    A cyclist courier, a man in a hard hat and a woman in a hi-vis vest holding a parcel
  • Tuesday, 28 March, 2023
    Future of work
    We are all secretaries now

    Cost-cutting has left workers drowning in ‘self-service’ admin tasks — but AI might come to the rescue

    FT montage image showing a man working at a computer, with a clock and notifications for emails and messages hovering in the background
Previous page You are on page 1 Next page

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