Well-paying managerial, professional and semi-professional type jobs have grown faster than any other sort of work in the UK over the last decade, according to research by The Work Foundation.

The report finds that far from there having been a boom in low-paying, low-skilled service sector work since the mid 1990s, in fact, low paying jobs have grown less significantly than ‘good jobs’ at higher levels of the labour market.

The report found that among men, managerial jobs grew by 13%, professionals by 8%, and associate professional jobs (such as nurses and computer technicians) by 16.98% between 1995 and 2005.

The decade has seen more women move into managerial and professional work. Among women, the number of managers grew by 30%, professionals by 15%, and associate professionals by a huge 57%.

Ian Brinkley, director of the knowledge economy programme at The Work Foundation, said: ‘The idea that the decline of manufacturing has meant the end of decent jobs paying decent wages for vast numbers of people is clearly unfounded. Economic change is never painless. However, a more knowledge-intensive world of work, where people work with their heads more than their hands, appears from these findings to be a relatively benign development for workers.”

The report also shows the impact of the spread of information technology on work. Administrative and secretarial work, traditionally the preserve of women, has fallen sharply, while personal service jobs have risen.