Labour market enforcement· Labour market Enforce for good Effectively enforcing labour market rights in the 2020s and beyond 25 April 2023 by Lindsay Judge and Hannah Slaughter This report concludes a four-year work programme at the Resolution Foundation supported by Unbound Philanthropy exploring the what, why and how of labour market enforcement. We bring together data and qualitative analysis with five cross-country studies to show how we could do better in the UK when it comes to enforcing labour market rights. READ MORE
Labour market enforcement· Social care· Labour market· Low pay Who cares? The experience of social care workers, and the enforcement of employment rights in the sector 26 January 2023 by Nye Cominetti The social care sector, as well as playing a vital role for many people and for our society, is an important employer, with 1.7 million social care jobs across the UK in 2022. Jobs in social care have many positive aspects of working in the sector, including the ability to form deep personal connections with … Continued READ MORE
Labour market enforcement· Labour market Policing prejudice Enforcing anti-discrimination laws in the workplace 8 November 2022 by Hannah Slaughter This briefing note is part of a three-year programme of research exploring labour market enforcement generously funded by Unbound Philanthropy. In it, we investigate the scale and nature of workplace discrimination, and consider how anti-discrimination rules can be enforced to greater effect. READ MORE
Labour market enforcement· Economy 2030 Low Pay Britain 2022 Low pay and insecurity in the UK labour market 25 May 2022 by Nye Cominetti and Rui Costa and Felicia Odamtten This edition of Low Pay Britain is our twelfth annual report taking stock of the state of low pay. Recent editions have focused on the short-term impacts of the Covid-19 crisis on low paid workers. Those have largely receded, and so here we take a longer view, and look at how low paid work has … Continued READ MORE
Labour market enforcement· Labour market· Low pay No shame, no gain? The role of reputation in labour market enforcement 9 November 2021 by Hannah Slaughter This briefing note is part of a three-year programme of research exploring labour market enforcement generously funded by Unbound Philanthropy. In it, we combine qualitative and quantitative research to explore how powerfully reputational concerns determine firms’ behaviour when it comes to worker rights, and whether policy makers could leverage firms’ worries about their public profile … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Labour market enforcement· Labour market· Brexit & trade· Migration Home and away The UK labour market in a post-Brexit world 16 December 2020 by Kathleen Henehan and Lindsay Judge This briefing note considers a number of ways in which the labour market could be affected as the UK moves to a tighter, post-Brexit immigration regime in January 2021. Under the new rules, legal avenues for low-skilled migrant workers to enter the UK will be more restrictively drawn, with implications for firms, resident foreign-born workers … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Labour market enforcement· Labour market Failed safe? Enforcing workplace health and safety in the age of Covid-19 2 November 2020 by Lindsay Judge and Hannah Slaughter This briefing note is part of a three-year programme of research exploring labour market enforcement generously funded by Unbound Philanthropy. Using a new survey of 6,000-plus UK working-age adults fielded in September this year, and administrative data from the enforcement agencies themselves, we explore how workers, employers and the regulators have responded to the threat … Continued READ MORE
Labour market enforcement· Pensions & savings Enrol up! The case for strengthening auto-enrolment enforcement 27 August 2020 by Hannah Slaughter This briefing note is part of a three-year programme of research exploring labour market enforcement generously funded by Unbound Philanthropy. It considers the extent of non-compliance with auto-enrolment, and whether there are ‘under-enrolment’ hotspots that require closer scrutiny. We estimate that around 3 per cent of eligible employees are not enrolled in a pension scheme … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Labour market enforcement· Low pay A new settlement for the low paid Beyond the minimum wage to dignity and respect 3 June 2020 by Torsten Bell and Nye Cominetti and Hannah Slaughter This crisis is shared, but its burden is not. From health risks to job losses, it is the UK’s 4.2 million low-paid workers on whom this pandemic has imposed the greatest cost, and of whom the efforts to combat it have required the greatest sacrifice. Lower earners are three times as likely to have lost … Continued READ MORE
Labour market enforcement· Labour market· Low pay· Living Wage Under the wage floor Exploring firms’ incentives to comply with the minimum wage 8 January 2020 by Lindsay Judge and Anna Stansbury This briefing note explores the incentives for firms to comply with the National Living Wage/National Minimum Wage (NLW/NMW). It documents the penalties that firms are subject to; estimates underpaying firms’ rate of detection; and shows that even if detection rates were significantly increased, they would need to go hand-in-hand with higher financial penalties to provide firms with a hard economic incentive to comply with the NLW/NMW. READ MORE
Labour market enforcement· Labour market From rights to reality Enforcing labour market laws in the UK 16 September 2019 by Lindsay Judge and Nye Cominetti Today’s labour market looks nothing like it did even a decade ago. With more women in the workplace than ever before, the decline of key sectors such as retail and manufacturing and the rise of self-employment, who works, where we work and the ways that we work have all changed significantly over time. Laws and … Continued READ MORE
Labour market enforcement· Labour market Time for time-and-a-half? Exploring the evidence and policy options on overtime 12 December 2017 by Conor D’Arcy Our quarterly earnings outlook, for 2017 Q2. Our ‘Spotlight’ piece looks at why a supposedly tight labour market is not delivering higher wage growth. We suggest this is down to the contribution of the inactive population, who are providing a bigger boost to effective supply than it has historically. READ MORE
Labour market enforcement· Labour market Zero-Hours Contracts: The latest figures and analysis 30 April 2014 by Laura Gardiner Workers on zero-hours contracts are much more likely to be underemployed, to be looking for another job, and to be without union membership than staff on conventional contracts. Almost three in 10 of all those on zero-hours contracts (29 per cent) are looking to work more hours – either in their current job or by … Continued READ MORE
Labour market enforcement· Labour market Zeroing In 25 March 2014 by Vidhya Alakeson and Conor D’Arcy The use of zero hours contracts should be reformed to ensure that flexibility can be maintained and workers’ rights strengthened to help eradicate misuse. This report makes a number of recommendations that respond to these concerns and seek to strike a better balance, providing protection and choice for workers while ensuring flexibility is maintained for … Continued READ MORE
Labour market enforcement· Labour market A Matter of Time: The rise of zero-hours contracts 25 June 2013 by Matthew Pennycook and Giselle Cory and Vidhya Alakeson It is not hard to see why zero-hours contracts can appear attractive to employers. They allow for maximum flexibility to meet changing demand. They can facilitate the management of risk, reduce the costs of recruitment and training, and they can, in certain circumstances, enable employers to avoid particular employment obligations. Yet it is clear that … Continued READ MORE
