What is clear is that the higher a minimum wage is, the more jobs it is likely to cost. Labour also promises a cash payment to firms that hire people who have been unemployed for more than two years, and promises to replace the Tories' youth-training programme with its own version. But in April 1996, the government began Project Work, a programme of interviews, job-seeking and compulsory work experience for those who have been jobless for more than two years. A further 15 pilot schemes began in February. More are planned.
Some deep differences remain between the two main parties' views of Britain's labour market.
The Conservatives are more prepared than Labour to treat it like any other market, hence their focus on deregulation and their opposition to the idea of a minimum wage and to the Maastricht social chapter. Yet in the past couple of years, both parties have trimmed their philosophies. And Labour, by accepting the Tories' union laws and their emphasis on work incentives, have moved towards it a lot. The Economist Newspaper Limited.