ReWAGE is fortunate in having some of the UK’s foremost thinkers on its Expert Group, drawn from leading universities and research organisations from across the UK. Between them they have a huge breadth of knowledge, covering such subjects as the labour market, job quality, employment relations and the changing nature of work. This week, we’re focusing on Professor Tracy Shildrick, who is our expert on low paid and insecure work.

Background:

Tracy is Professor of Inequalities at Newcastle University and currently Head of Sociology and Deputy Head of the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle.

She joined Newcastle Sociology in 2017, after a period at University of Leeds. Most of her research has a focus on young people, with a particular interest in youth transitions. She is also interested in issues around employment, low pay and welfare reform, and has a specific interest in the Northeast – much of her research has been conducted in Teesside.

Area of expertise:

Tracy has many years of experience researching young people's transitions to adulthood in contexts of poverty and wider deprivation, and her research has a particular focus on low paid, insecure work and the so called, 'low pay, no pay cycle'.

Why Tracy became a ReWAGE expert:

Joining ReWage offered a unique opportunity to engage with a diverse group of experts and to make a real difference in terms of how labour market policies evolve as we move out of the COVID-19 pandemic

Recent achievements:

Tracy was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2021

Tracy’s book (co-authored with colleagues), Poverty and Insecurity: Life in Low Pay, No Pay Britain (2012) won the Peter Townsend, British Academy Prize in 2013.

What achievement makes Tracy feel most proud?

Much of my work, with colleagues, has been directed towards challenging popular and powerful myths about poverty and worklessness with evidence It has been rewarding to see the work being used in many different contexts from parliamentary debates through to more local organisations.

Recent publications:

• Shildrick T, MacDonald R, Furlong A. Not single spies but in battalions: a critical, sociological engagement with the idea of so-called ‘Troubled Families’. The Sociological Review 2016, 64(4), 821-836.
• MacDonald R, Shildrick T. Biography, History and Place: Understanding Youth Transitions in Teesside. In: Irwin S; Nilsen A, ed. Transitions to Adulthood Through Recession: Youth and Inequality in a European Comparative Perspective. London, UK: Routledge, 2018, pp.74-96.
• Shildrick T, MacDonald R, Webster C, Garthwaite K. Poverty and Insecurity: Life in 'low-pay, No-pay' Britain. Bristol: Policy Press, 2012.
• Shildrick T. Lessons from Grenfell: Poverty propaganda, stigma and class power. The Sociological Review 2018, 66(4), 783-798.
• Shildrick T. Poverty Propaganda: Exploring the myths. Bristol: Policy Press, 2018

Other interests:

Tracy is co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Youth Studies and Co-Editor of the Routledge book series, Youth and Young adulthood.

ReWAGE’s Expert Group is uniquely placed to offer the government informed practical advice and policy recommendations to support its strategic response to the recovery and renewal of work and employment in the UK as it tackles the impact of Covid-19 and the cost of living crisis.