What are the spillover effects of a rising minimum wage higher up the pay distribution, and what are the knock-on economic impacts of pay compression? How does the minimum wage influence individual decisions on participation and employment in the labour market?
Background
To make work pay and create a resilient labour market that underpins economic growth, we are looking to continuing building the best evidence base to support businesses and people. This applies to employers of and workers with different cost requirements, characteristics, skills, and immigration status. We recognise these factors will have direct impacts on living standards, poverty, wage expectations, and ability to spend or save.
This theme focuses on building a skilled, empowered workforce, essential for inclusive growth and innovation. This in turn will raise living standards, create opportunities for all, through tackling poor working conditions, low pay, and poor job security. We have included questions that relate to driving trends for labour allocation, skills development and retention, technology deployment, and best practise for businesses.
The ability to nurture a strong labour market and support employment rights includes:
- modernising the UK labour market and strengthening employment protections
- entitlement to parental leave, establishing bereavement leave, facilitating flexible working and protection from unfair dismissal
- increasing protection from sexual harassment, identifying gender and menopause action plans, and strengthening rights for pregnant workers
- ensuring security and flexibility for workers and for working families
- empowering workers, trade unions and employers to negotiate fair pay, terms and conditions, and training standards
- increasing employment opportunities for disabled people and people with health conditions, supporting them to thrive as part of a workforce
- strengthening workers’ rights and empowering employees to speak out against unfair processes and helping to remove unnecessary restrictions
Next steps
Get in touch with [email protected]
Topics
No topics assigned yet
Research fields
No research fields assigned yet
Related UKRI funded projects
-
Wage and Employment Dynamics - Phase 2 (HMRC)
The project links data from ONS surveys, education systems, and the tax and benefit systems to provide insights into the dynamics of earnings and employment, integrating data across individuals, years, jobs, income sourc...
Funded by: ESRC
Lead research organisation: University of the West of England
Why might this be relevant?
The project focuses on wage and employment dynamics, providing insights into the impacts of minimum wage changes on earnings and employment, aligning with the question's focus on spillover effects and economic impacts.
-
Minimum wages, taxes and transfers, and low-income workers
Tackling high rates of inequality and in-work poverty has become central to public policy agendas in many developed countries. Policymakers have often turned to two particular tools: cash transfers (sometimes called 'tax...
Funded by: ESRC
Lead research organisation: Institute for Fiscal Studies
Why might this be relevant?
This project specifically focuses on minimum wages, taxes, and transfers, which are key components of the question.
-
Wage and Employment Dynamics - Phase 3 (WED3)
Many OECD countries have been utilising linked administrative data sources to understand their labour markets for many years, allowing them to gain a deep understanding of labour market dynamics. The UK has fallen behind...
Funded by: ESRC
Lead research organisation: University of the West of England
Why might this be relevant?
While not directly addressing all aspects of the question, this project deals with wage and employment dynamics, which are related to the broader topic.