Interesting points raised.

I agree with you that GBP and the unemployment rate basically are useless 20th century stats. They no longer apply or tell the story.

Much of the work people do is out of necessity especially at the lower end. These people have no savings which means they are forced to take a position that pays little. Without that cushion, there is no waiting until something better comes along or improving one's job skills.

At the same time, I have great faith in the advancements of technology and the pace it is going at. For this reason, I see a ton of jobs eliminated. The pace of chance is so rapid people are missing what is going on. Hence, we are going to have a ton of workers displaced minus the skills to succeed in the future. Until people fully acknowledge this problem, little will be done.

Another problem is that technology tends to limit wages. Thus people are not earning more. When adjusted for inflation, we are basically flat over the past 20 years. I read an article last night that software programmers, a job you think in high demand actually has been over saturated with wages being flat.

Corporations are not going to change the way they operate. They exist to make a profit. It really is that simple. Wall Street runs so much that it totally overwhelmed main street. All the stats bear this out.