In the footsteps of George Orwell

Book review: Hired, by James BloodworthIn this discomforting book, Bloodworth goes undercover to explore the world of casual labour.

Dr Matthew Partridge
By
published
in Features

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We need to raise his wages
(Image credit: 2017 Getty Images)

888-Hired-100

Atlantic Books, £12.99

Everyone knows the casual economy has led to a decline in wages and conditions for many unskilled workers. But sometimes it's hard to see just how big the losses have been. James Bloodworth follows in George Orwell's footsteps and goes undercover to explore the world of casual labour. He finds that it "is a place of relentless physical effort, minimal personal warmth, small jealousies and unresolved grievances", says Julian Glover in the Evening Standard.

"This is a very discomforting book, no matter what your politics might be," says Rod Liddle in The Times. "We are dragged from one overcrowded lodging to the next and from warehouse gulags patrolled by vindictive, bullying, middle managers to zero-hour contracts in care homes and the deathless boredom of an insurance-company call centre". The biggest flaw is failing to see that "a hideously exploited underclass of cheap foreign labour has effectively created the conditions Bloodworth describes". If the author can't grasp that, then "no matter how good his book is, he is part of the problem".

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"No one should have to work in the conditions Bloodworth experienced," says Nick Cohen in The Guardian. But "every [sympathetic] reader would have to accept paying more for the services they now receive at bargain rates." Bloodworth argues this is "a price worth paying" and that "if we do not stop the mistreatment of Deliveroo riders, one day everyone could wake up to find their employment rights gone".

Dr Matthew Partridge
Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri

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