Low Pay
Recent research and publications on low pay
Guardian: Data analysis showing only 52% of Jobcentre Plus vacancies guarantee enough hours to meet the new government definition of ‘work’, with 24,000 jobs not offering enough hours to qualify for working tax credit, thereby reducing income (8th April 2012).
Family Action: Breaking the Bank : Family Fortunes, The Impact of Austerity on Family Life. Report about families’ experiences of austerity, including the effect of low wages and a call to increase the minimum wage (5th March 2012).
Defra: 31% of British farmers are earning less than the minimum wage, even before taking into account their longer working hours (1st March 2012).
Netmums: Feeling the squeeze. Finds over 70 per cent of families are ‘on the edge’ of surviving with one in five mums is missing meals so her children can eat. (16th February 2012)
CEPR: Low Wage Lessons. Looks at the extent and drivers of low-paid work, finding that 20.6% of the UK workforce was in a low-wage job (in relative terms) compared to an average of 15% in the OECD. (2nd February 2012)
Fair Pay Network: Face the difference: The Impact of Low Pay in National Supermarket Chains. Finds CEOs of the big 4 supermarkets (with combined profits of £5.8bn) get £3-7m each while 86% of employees do not earn Living Wage. (21st January 2012)
Save the Children:Rising Energy Costs: The impact on low-income families. Poll finds almost 1/3 of low-income parents with children under 16 won’t be able to afford their winter energy bills. Research also shows that growing up in cold, damp homes can slow children’s development, worsen long-term problems like asthma, and lead to rises in hospital admission rates (4th January 2012).
Resolution Foundation: Priced Out. Shows that because of a new inflation environment, hard times started significantly earlier for households on lower incomes than for the average UK household (27th December 2011).
Office of National Statistics: The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) low pay estimates for April 2011. Show there were 299,000 jobs paid below the national minimum wage held by people aged 16 and over (1.2% of of all employee jobs in the UK labour market) (23rd November 2011).
Children’s Society: Missing out, a child centred analysis of material deprivation and subjective well-being. Finds family holidays, pocket money and access to outdoor space are among the things that impact most upon children’s wellbeing (8th November 2011).
The Resolution Foundation: Low Pay Britain.Finds 20% of British employees are earning less than a living wage (2nd October 2011).
Trust for London/ New Policy Institute: Poverty and work. Data shows over half of working-age adults and children in poverty in London are living in a household where someone is in paid work. It also finds that one million people in the city live in low-income working households (20th October 2011).
Resolution Foundation: Poor household finances risk choking off recovery. Shows the impact of inequality on the economy and shows that only 48% of low-to-middle income households have cash left over at the end of each month. (24th August 2011).
Joseph Rowntree Foundation Monitoring poverty and social exclusion in Wales 2011 33% of children in Wales live in poverty; half of the improvements in child poverty rates made in the mid 90s – mid 00s have now been lost (July 7th 2011).
Joseph Rowntree Foundation: A minimum income standard for the UK in 2011. Shows that income necessary for a minimum acceptable standard of living has increased faster than the usual measures of inflation, especially for families with children. (July 5th 2011).
Oyedele, Olufemi. How Managers can Motivate their Employees. 15 out of 20 respondents (75%) in the lower and middle levels of employment supported “regular increment in salary” [as a key motivator] as against 2 out of 10 respondents in the higher cadre. (18th May 2011)