Where the words come from
Wages that are sticky downward (minimum wage laws, contracts, pay cuts making workers work less hard or leave); a fall in labour demand with inflexible wages leading to unemployment — Principles of Economics 2e, OpenStax, licensed CC BY 4.0. https://openstax.org/books/principles-economics-2e/pages/21-3-what-causes-changes-in-unemployment-over-the-short-run. Changes: The sticky-wage theories condensed to one sentence; US figures dropped; British spelling. Ours: "firms cut fewer jobs" with a flexible wage (the reading of Figure 21.7 in words), the chart and its check, and the three concept cards and their examples..
European notice periods and severance rules discouraging both firing and hiring and linked to higher unemployment; the growth of temporary agency work probably reducing US unemployment, temp jobs as a stepping stone to permanent work — Principles of Economics 2e, OpenStax, licensed CC BY 4.0. https://openstax.org/books/principles-economics-2e/pages/21-4-what-causes-changes-in-unemployment-over-the-long-run. Changes: Country lists and the one-year severance figure dropped; "natural rate of unemployment" given as "unemployment"; the hedge "probably" kept on the temp-agency point; British spelling..
Flexibility helping business respond to changing market conditions and supporting record employment; working around study or caring; flexibility not being reciprocated, with availability demanded at very short notice and no guarantee of work, making bills and mortgages hard to manage — Good work: the Taylor review of modern working practices, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (July 2017), Open Government Licence v3.0. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/good-work-the-taylor-review-of-modern-working-practices. Changes: Chapter 6 ("One-sided flexibility") condensed and reported in our words; "record employment rates" to "record employment"; the review's recommendations left out. The recap's closing sentence on whom flexibility serves is ours..
People in employment on a zero-hours contract in their main job, April to June 2026 (1,230,049; 3.57 per cent of people in employment); share underemployed (29.2 per cent against 7.3 per cent of others) and not wanting more hours (59.0 per cent), UK, not seasonally adjusted, Labour Force Survey — EMP17: People in employment on zero hours contracts, Office for National Statistics (18 August 2026), Open Government Licence v3.0. https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/emp17peopleinemploymentonzerohourscontracts. Changes: Tables 1 and 14 rounded: 1.23 million, 3.6, 59, 29 and 7 per cent; "total underemployed" given as "underemployed, wanting more hours". ONS advises caution because of Labour Force Survey volatility; the figures are self-reported..
Questions, options, diagrams and feedback are our own. Figures credited to a source above are that source's; every other figure is invented to show the method.