IER News & blogs

The Beyond 4.0 research project examining the future of work and welfare has just published a new policy brief on platform work. It is co-authored by Chris Mathieu of Lund University and Chris Warhurst of IER. It maps out key issues with the operation of the platform economy and offers recommendations for future policy development to better govern it. It arrives just as the European Parliament looks set to initiate new deliberation on this subject. Read more here.

Usually this message is a short one to thank our research partners and sponsors. Whilst we make those thanks, and sincerely, this year is also different. Let’s be honest, 2020 wasn’t a good year.

As the Covid pandemic unfolded, jobs suffered and the labour market is now loosening. The pre-Covid rise in youth unemployment has become worse, a huge swathe of the self-employed have disappeared, and jobs that were furloughed in some industries are now disappearing as government support changes.

The Low Pay Commission's Report 2020 was launched on 9th December 2020, and was used to set National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates for 2020/21 as announced by the Chancellor Rishi Sunak on 25th November 2020.

IER's report 'How Employers Set Pay For Apprentices' involved a multivariate analysis of apprenticeship pay data, and 30 case study interviews with employers delivering apprenticeship frameworks where low pay was greatest.

The study found that the minimum wage for apprentices applied almost exclusively to new recruits rather than existing employees, who were paid their existing rate for the job. For new recruits, few employers paid the apprentice minimum wage. Instead they added a bonus: as a recognition of the apprentices contribution to the business; out of 'fairness' as part of a Corporate Responsibility; and due to wider market rates either as a result of market forces or because of occupation or sector wide agreed pay rates. The NMW apprentice rate was most likely to be used in those sectors where fully qualified workers were paid the NMW age rate in order to maintain differentials.

This discussion paper, written by Sudipa Sarkar, Bhaskar Chakravorty and Clare Lyonette, analyses primary survey data from participants of a large-scale skill-training programme that targets rural poor youths in India.

Focusing on two dimensions of individuals' identity: caste and gender, the empirical findings suggest that training participants from the most socially disadvantaged groups - Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) - have significantly lower income aspiration when compared to Other Backward Class (OBC) and Other Caste (OC) participants. Female participants also have significantly lower aspiration than their male counterparts.

The aspiration gaps exist even after controlling for various background characteristics, including participants' pre-training personality traits and soft skills. Individual-level and household-level factors mediate some of the aspiration gaps based on caste and gender.

The paper finds evidence that for SC/ST female participants, the disadvantages on both caste and gender dimensions add up; this is reflected in their lower income aspiration levels, in comparison with all other groups. Thus, the results support the hypothesis of "double jeopardy" instead of "intersectionality" in this context.

This is the first paper of an ongoing project funded through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).

IER has been working with the Co-op Group to evaluate its apprenticeship programmes. The initial study was halted due to lockdown restrictions and it was decided to change the focus of the study to see how apprenticeships could be developed to meet the changing job roles and skills needs, and help to ‘build back better’.

The study focused on the two sectors where the Co-op delivers most apprenticeships: food retail and funeral care. The research involved the analysis of employment and apprenticeship data and interviews with the main employers, sector groups and providers across the two sectors.

Despite distinct differences between the two sectors, there were a lot of common themes including a broadening of job roles, more flexible working and the need to develop digital skills.

The report 'Future Proofing Apprenticeships' was launched at a virtual conference on Thursday 26th November. Attendees included sector stakeholders, apprenticeship organisations and Government Departments.