BlackRock’s call to raise wages for workers is welcome – but more is needed

Calls from big investors and politicians aren’t being heeded. What’s required is a more enlightened attitude to workers’ representatives, such as unions and employee directors, which might help firms address issues with their workforces, argues James Moore

Protesters have called for better pay to support Britons in the cost of living crisis (Getty)

Higher wages could help entice more people back [to the workforce]: real wages, or adjusted for inflation, have barely moved since the pandemic.”

It wasn’t the TUC saying that, or a left-of-centre politician or a big union or another progressive organisation of one type or another. That quote hails from BlackRock, the world’s biggest money manager. Capitalism’s crown prince, if you like.

It can be found in the asset manager’s Macro Insights – a regular series put out by the BlackRock Investment Institute. It actually applies to the US, but its writers could just as easily have been talking about the UK, which has been experiencing many of the problems they identify.