Having published an article in the Conversation on 2 September on the paucity of debate in the election campaign on the quality of jobs growth – and specifically the need for middle class jobs growth, I was intrigued to listen this week to Radio National’s Big Ideas program Can democracy survive a disappearing middle class? . I have written a comment on the program’s website.

The concerns that emerge from the large scale studies quoted in my article relate to the entrapment of many people in low end jobs, and the lack of pathways to secure, well paid jobs simply because of the long term decline of such jobs. Hence opportunities for social mobility as one of the core foundations of social equity are ever more limited.