He said about 25% of his work included "defending my people against more cuts", a task which dragged him away from his work tackling the BSE crisis.

BBC: Medical officer tells of BSE secrecy

Although today's white-hot labour market has dragged ever more poor people into work, it has only halted, rather than reversed, this decades-long decline in low-skilled earning power.

ECONOMIST: Out of sight, out of mind

That great Reserve Army of the Unemployed that could be dragged out of the rural hinterland to work in the factories is now exhausted.

FORBES: Apple's Foxconn Is Improving Labour Conditions In China