Potent, disturbing and revelatory... [Bloodworth] sets out to see something we should know more about than we do, and he tells the story of what he found well. * Evening Standard *
A very discomforting book, no matter what your politics might be... very good * Sunday Times *
Grim but necessary reading... Theresa May should horrify [Bloodworth] by picking up a copy of Hired and learning from it. * Spectator *
An extraordinary and unsettling journey into the way modern Britons work. It is Down and Out In Paris and London for the gig economy age. * Matthew d'Ancona, Guardian columnist and bestselling author of Post-Truth *
Exceptional... Bloodworth is the best young left wing writer Britain has produced in years. * Observer *
Powerful and important... [Hired] reveals the true reality of the low-pay economy in Britain today. * Guardian *
Elegant and frequently shocking. * Daily Mail *
Unflinching... a refreshing antidote to the fashionable post-work these written from steel-and-ivory towers. * Prospect *
A wake-up call to us all. A very graphic and authentic journey exposing the hard and miserable working life faced by too many people living in Britain today. * Margaret Hodge, MP, former Chair, Public Accounts Committee *
Whatever you think of the political assertions in this book - and I disagree with many of them - this is an important investigation into the reality of low-wage Britain. Whether you are on the Right, Left or Centre, anybody who believes in solidarity and social justice should read this book. * Nick Timothy, former Chief of Staff to Theresa May *
I emerged from James Bloodworth's quietly devastating and deeply disturbing book convinced that the 'gig economy' is simply another way in which the powerful are enabled to oppress the disadvantaged * D. J. Taylor, author of Orwell: The Biography *
A truly devastating examination of the vulnerable human underbelly of Britain's labour market, shining a bright light on the unjust and exploitative practices that erode the morale and living standards of working-class communities. * Frank Field, MP *
James Bloodworth pulls back the carpet and exposes the rotten floorboards of Britain's low wage, insecure and exploitative economy, describing living and working conditions that Dickens would recognise. A wake-up call to our political elites to genuinely tackle the gross inequality at the heart of our society. * Wes Streeting, MP *
Hired is a refreshing antidote to the fashionable post-work theses written from steel-and-ivory towers * The Big Questions (BBC TV) *
James Bloodworth's unflinching account of life and work in the towns we have come to know as being left behind exposes the mercilessness of the low-wage economy and modern capitalism * Prospect *
