Low-wage work in the United Kingdom

Lloyd, Caroline ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2624-8031, Mason, Geoff and Mayhew, Ken, eds. 2008. Low-wage work in the United Kingdom. Russell Sage Foundation Case Studies of Job Quality in Advanced Economies, New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

The United Kingdom's labor market policies place it in a kind of institutional middle ground between the United States and continental Europe. Low pay grew sharply between the late 1970s and the mid-1990s, in large part due to the decline of unions and collective bargaining and the removal of protections for the low paid. The changes instituted by Tony Blair's New Labour government since 1997, including the introduction of the National Minimum Wage, halted the growth in low pay but have not reversed it. Low-Wage Work in the United Kingdom explains why the current level of low-paying work remains one of the highest in Europe. The authors argue that the failure to deal with low pay reflects a policy approach which stressed reducing poverty, but also centers on the importance of moving people off benefits and into work, even at low wages. The U.K. government has introduced a version of the U.S. welfare to work policies and continues to stress the importance of a highly flexible and competitive labor market. A central policy theme has been that education and training can empower people to both enter work and to move into better paying jobs. The case study research reveals the endemic nature of low paid work and the difficulties workers face in escaping from the bottom end of the jobs ladder. However, compared to the United States, low paid workers in the United Kingdom do benefit from in-work social security benefits, targeted predominately at those with children, and entitlements to non-pay benefits such as annual leave, maternity and sick pay, and crucially, access to state-funded health care. Low-Wage Work in the United Kingdom skillfully illustrates the way that the interactions between government policies, labor market institutions, and the economy have ensured that low pay remains a persistent problem within the United Kingdom.

Item Type:	Book
Book Type:	Edited Book
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Publisher:	Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN:	9780871545633
Last Modified:	11 Nov 2022 09:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/28964

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item