Economics, government & business

Patricia Hewitt, the former trade and industry secretary, has admitted breaking the Sex Discrimination Act when she overruled advisers and appointed a woman to an influential job instead of a better-qualified male candidate

The government has lost £3bn in benefit fraud and mistakes over three years – half of which was down to staff error

GPs and the Health and Safety Executive must work with employers to get more people off benefits and back into work, according to the CBI

A senior Conservative MP has urged his party to change its policy on immigration, arguing that economic migration is a feature of a successful trading nation in the 21st century

The UK cannot hope to compete with the world's emerging economies and should consider opting out of the world competitiveness league tables, according to a leading academic

Going out to work cures stress and depression much more effectively than watching daytime TV at home, according to work and pensions secretary David Blunkett

Tesco, Asda, and B&Q are leading calls for extended Sunday trading, despite opposition for unions, smaller stores and church groups

Staff contracted-out of the NHS are to get improved pay and conditions as part of the Agenda for Change programme.

Four out of five consultant physicians working in the UK are planning to retire early because of long working hours.

Public sector bodies in New Orleans are to lay off 3,000 people after Hurricane Katrina left the city in financial turmoil.

NHS Employers, the body responsible for NHS pay, is seeking a maximum 2.5% pay award for doctors, dentists, nurses and other healthcare professionals from April 2006.

The majority of Conservative MPs dismiss economic migration as a way of plugging UK skills gaps, according to a survey published today.

The supposed conflict between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown unsurprisingly grabbed most of the headlines in the national press after last week's Labour Party Conference in Brighton, but there was plenty to interest employers

Our irascible insider on... the merits of National Service

Never has the need for home-grown talent been more urgent. As the CBI has alerted us, almost a third of...