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Sarah Oconnor

Sarah Oconnor

Financial Times

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We have to stop calling some jobs ‘low skilled’

Freeing ourselves of these labels might help young people to think more creatively about the future

17.02.2026 30

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

Is this the way the world ends?

Romantic relationships with AI models will not heal the disconnect between young men and women

10.02.2026 10

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

No, the public is not irredeemably ignorant

But there is a disconnect between economists’ metrics and people’s perceptions

04.02.2026 30

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

Why we have the calendar all wrong

January is not a natural time to start new things

21.01.2026 30

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

Don’t hold your breath for robots’ ChatGPT moment

Implementing automation systems requires a lot of planning, time and money

14.01.2026 20

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

The problem with AI and ‘empathy’

If technology redefines what our language means it could also change our perceptions of ourselves

07.01.2026 20

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

The good, the bad and the ugly of Britain’s labour market reforms

It’s the detail of the new Employment Rights Act that will matter — and the timing

23.12.2025 40

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

Is the ‘Made by AI’ label pointless?

The experience of the video game industry suggests transparency about AI use won’t be straightforward

17.12.2025 20

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

Why Britain doesn’t have enough dentists

Plenty of trained foreigners want to work, but slots for the qualification exam seem as hard to get as Glastonbury tickets

09.12.2025 20

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

A shrinking world will turn our problems upside down

The political and economic priorities of a depopulating society could be very different from today’s

26.11.2025 30

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

What nostalgia for the 1990s leaves out

Huge improvements in the decades since are a reminder that even really knotty problems can get better

19.11.2025 20

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

A tale of two Christmas adverts: Coca-Cola vs John Lewis

Artificial intelligence can now provide the same commercial outcomes as carefully crafted human storytelling

11.11.2025 20

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

Why the job ladder matters for migrants

Obstacles in progressing are important both for people and for the economy

05.11.2025 10

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

Lessons from success: how job prospects improved for the young

Youth inactivity is a problem in the UK, but we can learn from our past — and the countries that are getting it right

29.10.2025 10

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

Why can’t I buy a small smartphone?

Capitalism is not giving me what I want, but I’m not behaving like a good free market consumer myself

22.10.2025 30

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

Are we about to enter an age of leisure? Don’t bet on it

Productivity gains won’t necessarily translate into the embrace of free time — especially in America

14.10.2025 20

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

The most radical Labour plan you haven’t heard about

Collective bargaining in social care could save an ailing sector — but only if it’s done properly

07.10.2025 20

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

What Jane Austen can teach us about taking feedback

Pay attention to trends, extract what is useful and ignore bad-faith critics

30.09.2025 20

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

Are we on course to become a Little Brother society?

Trust in our peers could be the casualty as surveillance technology becomes smaller, smarter and cheaper

24.09.2025 10

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

What’s in a popular first name? Let this Sarah tell you . . . 

Data suggests the drive towards individualism has increased the selection of monikers in recent decades

17.09.2025 20

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

Should a machine arbitrate a row with your boss?

In spite of its intuitive appeal, AI is not necessarily better than humans at resolving employment disputes

03.09.2025 20

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

The Dutch are quietly shifting towards a four-day work week

The Netherlands serves as a case study for the advantages and trade-offs of reduced hours in the workplace

26.08.2025 20

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

The lost art of admitting what you don’t know

Even LLMs are starting to show this worrying human tendency

12.08.2025 30

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

Dynamic wages make work a gamble

Ride-hailing and food-delivery companies’ new pay models use algorithms to decide bespoke fees

06.08.2025 20

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

The internet hates my apostrophe

It turns out I am not machine readable — but that might be an advantage in the future

22.07.2025 40

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

Pity the policymakers in the AI jobs tsunami

Instead of retraining those who lose work, politicians could help people take matters into their own hands

16.07.2025 30

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

Why driverless vehicles just can’t quit humans

Regulators need to ask more questions about the people in the shadows

08.07.2025 40

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

In defence of the second-mover advantage

In AI, the message ‘act now or miss out’ has more in common with high-pressure sales than business strategy

01.07.2025 20

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

What has happened to Ukraine’s refugees?

Strong labour markets, high education levels and policies allowing immediate work have helped them succeed

25.06.2025 20

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

The scourge of the non-compete clause

They may look employer friendly but can stifle labour force fluidity and competition

18.06.2025 20

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

Who are you calling over-the-hill? The truth about brain ageing

It’s not necessarily correct that our cognitive skills decline as we get older

11.06.2025 30

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

‘Vibe coding’ is the new DIY

Large language models enable us all to create our own apps, but sometimes you need a professional

03.06.2025 30

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

Professionals are losing control of their work

Tools which monitor, direct or organise processes may reduce the scope for employees to try new ways of doing things

27.05.2025 30

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

Are female experts more credible?

Public perception of stereotyped discrimination has one surprising outcome

20.05.2025 30

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

The minimum wage is now coming for white-collar work

It’s not destroying jobs but it is catching up with the lower rungs of graduate roles

13.05.2025 30

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

The AI arms race in hiring is a huge mess for everyone

Companies were using automated screening earlier, but applicants’ adoption of the tools is now causing problems

06.05.2025 30

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

What can workers do if they’re fired by AI?

Automated decisions are a source of under-appreciated tension in the UK government’s approach to low-paid employees

15.04.2025 30

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor

The US may be reversing course on child labour

Acute strain on the jobs market has encouraged some states to consider reducing restrictions on employing minors

08.04.2025 20

Financial Times

Sarah Oconnor