2016 jobs rising, but focus must be on quality not quantity

I had previously believed that the health of the labour market would have had a major bearing on the outcome of the February general election, but that belief was naive.

Employment has improved significantly since the low point of 2012, but the outgoing government got no political bounty on the back of that turnaround and, in fact, both parties of government got a massive kick in the teeth.

Obviously, many people have much greater concerns than being able to get a job. Notwithstanding the apparent lack of interest from the electorate, the labour-market story continues to evolve positively.