Introduction: Britain's new deals

This paper introduces the active labour market policies or job search policies in the UK known as the New Deal, a major part of the Labour Government's package of welfare‐to‐work policies. Topics covered include estimates of their overall impact on employment; their limited effectiveness with disadvantaged job‐seekers, including increasing numbers of inactive, but not formally unemployed, people; and debates about these policies in relation to skill needs and areas of job decline.