The future is ours: Women, automation and equality in the digital age

a new IPPR publication

Following the Commission on Economic Justice's work on automation, IPPR has examined the impact automation could have on women. Our new report The Future is Ours: Women, automation and equality in the digital age shows that working women are more than twice as likely as working men to hold jobs with high potential for automation. But when workers are cheaper than machines, there is little incentive to invest in automating technologies.

The report argues that without intervention gender inequality could deepen as women are stuck in low-pay roles and less able to access new roles in the economy. It is imperative that government ensures that the increasing use of robots, cognitive technologies and artificial intelligence don't widen existing gender pay and wealth gaps.

Managed correctly, automation could increase productivity. These gains could be used to increase low incomes and to transform how we value key job roles that have historically been characterised by feminised work performed primarily by women, for low wages. Increased productivity could also allow us to produce the same amount with less work: we could choose to reduce working time, potentially relieving the 'double shift' of paid and unpaid work faced by many women and facilitating a more equal balance of unpaid work between genders.

Technology is not destiny. Now is our chance to accelerate automation to create a more just economy. To realise these benefits will require automation to be led by those it affects, and that must include women.

Summary report (PDF 2pp)

Full text (PDF 56pp)

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A Wealth of Difference: Announcing the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice discussion paper on reforming the taxation of wealth

A Commission on Economic Justice discussion paper

Carys Roberts, Grace Blakeley and Luke Murphy in an IPPR newsletter

The UK is a wealthy nation but that wealth is very unevenly distributed. This has negative implications for both economic prosperity and justice. These issues are set to become more important as technological change, stagnating wages and rising house prices increase the income and gains that can be made from wealth.

The UK's system of wealth taxation currently fails to tackle these issues. In fact, it frequently exacerbates them by creating opportunities for avoidance, distorting investment decisions, poorly capturing wealth transfers and under-taxing income from assets, particularly housing. This is unjust.

The paper makes five recommendations which together would amount to a transformation of the tax treatment of wealth in the UK:

• All income from wealth should be taxed under the income tax schedule.
• Inheritance tax should be abolished and replaced with a lifetime donee-based gift tax.
• Non-domiciled status should be removed and trusts reformed to be more transparent.
• Property taxes should be reformed through the replacement of council tax with an annual property tax.
• Business rates should be replaced with a land value tax.

Together, these measures would make the UK's tax system both more just and more economically efficient – reducing wealth inequality and helping to build a tax system fit for the 21st century.

Full text (PDF 44pp)

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Flexibility for who? Millennials and mental health in the modern workplace

a new paper from IPPR by Craig Thorley and Will Cook with grateful thanks to the South West Skills Newsletter (September 2017) for this item

60-second Summary

Younger workers face a future employment landscape that could damage their mental health and well-being unless we take action. As a result of the evolution
of the UK labour market over the past 25 years, today’s generation of younger
workers - millennials and centennials (those born during or after 1982) – risk
losing out on access to permanent, secure and fulfilling work. Compared to
previous generations, they are more likely to be in work characterised by
contractual flexibility (including part-time work, temporary work and self-employment). Relatedly, they are also more likely to be underemployed (and
so be working fewer hours than they would like) and/or overqualified (being a
graduate in a non-professional or managerial job).

For some young people in part-time or temporary work (particularly where this
involves being underemployed and/or overqualified), their experiences of work
may be putting their mental health and well-being at greater risk.

New analysis reveals younger workers in part-time and temporary work are more
likely to experience poorer mental health and well-being, while there is more of a mixed picture among those who are self-employed. Similarly, younger workers who are underemployed or overqualified also experience worse mental health. This is likely to be explained – in part, but not entirely – by part-time and temporary work being linked to low pay and insecurity.

Employers and government should work together to promote better quality jobs
that combine both flexibility and control for employees, enabling access to the
benefits of flexible working practices – such as flexitime and remote working –
without restricting autonomy and choice.

As well as helping to boost mental health and well-being, this will help to stem the flow of younger workers moving onto out-of-work sickness benefits, and improve productivity and the UK’s overall economic performance.

KEY FINDINGS

Trends in the ways young people work

Younger workers today are more likely to be in part-time work, temporary work or self-employment:

• 26 per cent of younger workers in 2015/16 were in part-time work, compared to 24 per cent in 2004/05
• 15 per cent of younger workers in 2015 were in temporary work, compared to 13 per cent in 2004
• 9 per cent of younger workers in 2015/16 were self-employed, compared to 7 per cent in 2004/05.

Younger workers today are more likely to be in jobs for which they’re overqualified:

• A younger worker in a non-professional or managerial job was twice as likely to be a graduate in 2014 compared to 2004 (20 per cent compared to 10 per cent).

Younger workers today are more likely to be underemployed:

• In 2014, 19 per cent of younger workers were underemployed, more than double the rate among all other age groups. The proportion of workers aged 16-24 who were underemployed was 60 per cent higher in 2014 compared to 2002.

Trends in young people’s mental health

Young people today are increasingly likely to report experiencing mental
health problems:

• 16 per cent of young people (aged 16-32) experienced mental health problems in 2014, up from 13 per cent in 2004. This could be explained, in part, by reduced stigma and associated increases in rates of disclosure.

Younger workers today are more likely to report poor mental health compared to
older workers:

• Employees aged 18-29 are twice as likely as those aged 50-59 to describe their current mental health as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ (16 per cent compared to 8 per cent).

The majority of mental health problems experienced by employees are
work-related:

• Almost two thirds of employees (62 per cent) attribute symptoms of poor mental health to work, or say that work is a contributing factor.

Mental health and well-being among young people in different kinds of work

Younger workers in part-time jobs are more likely than those in full-time jobs to
experience poorer mental health and well-being:

• They are 43% more likely to experience mental health problems (20 per cent compared to 14 per cent)
• They are more likely to fall within the bottom 10 per cent of the English adult population according to mental well-being (12 per cent compared to 9 per cent)
• They are 7 percentage points less likely to report being satisfied with their life, even when controlling for variables including household income and prior life satisfaction.

There is a mixed picture when comparing the mental health and well-being of
younger workers who are self-employed and those who are employees, reflecting the variety in types of self-employment:

• Younger workers who are self-employed are marginally more likely to experience mental health problems compared to those who are employees (17 per cent compared to 16 per cent)
• They are also half as likely to fall within the bottom 10 per cent of the English adult population according to mental well-being (5 per cent compared to 10 per cent).

Younger workers in temporary jobs are more likely than those in permanent jobs
to experience poorer mental health and well-being, particularly where they would prefer to be in permanent work:

• those in temporary jobs are 29 per cent more likely to experience mental health problems, compared to those in permanent jobs (22 per cent compared to 17 per cent)
• Those in temporary jobs and who would prefer to move into permanent work report lower levels of happiness and life satisfaction than those in temporary jobs who would not prefer to move into permanent work, even when controlling for variables including pay and gender.

Younger graduates who are in jobs for which they’re overqualified are more likely to experience poorer mental health and well-being, compared to graduates in professional/managerial jobs:

• They are more likely to report being anxious or depressed (22 per cent compared to 16 per cent)
• They are 14 percentage points less likely to report being satisfied with their life so far, even when controlling for variables including household income and prior life satisfaction.

Zero-hours contracts are causing poorer mental health among younger workers:

• Those on zero-hours contracts are 13 percentage points more likely than those in other forms of work to experience mental health problems, even when controlling for variables including household income and mental health outcomes during adolescence.

Pay and insecurity

Job insecurity and low pay are associated with poorer mental health among
younger workers:

• Younger workers who believe themselves to have more than a 50 per cent chance of losing their job are twice as likely to experience mental health problems compared to those with no chance of losing their job (24 per cent compared to 12 per cent)
• The proportion of employees aged 21-25 who were in low-paid work increased by 82 per cent between 1990 and 2015
• Young people in low-paid work are more likely to experience mental health problems compared to those in higher-paid work (21 per cent compared to 16 per cent).

OPPORTUNITIES FOR ACTION

Employers

• Every company with over 50 employees should create a ‘workers’ forum’ in order to ensure that employees – including those on flexible contracts – have sufficient influence over their working lives.
• Employers should take steps to promote positive mental health in the workplace and provide support for employees who experience problems, including:
  – awareness-raising and anti-stigma campaigns
  – training for line managers and other employees
  – monitoring rates of sickness absence.

Government

• Central and local government should work with employers to ensure younger workers do not become trapped in low-skilled, low-paid work, including through:
  – development of ‘progression agreements’ whereby public funding is provided in exchange for enhanced progression opportunities for employees
  – the introduction of a new Personal Training Credit to widen access to lifelong learning and give individuals more control over their future careers.
• Government should establish a new national mission to boost job quality, and so report on job quality in addition to the employment rate. The promotion and protection of mental health and well-being should be a key component of measures of job quality.
• Government should pilot an expanded Fit for Work service, providing full sickness support for smaller employers lacking their own occupational health and counselling provision.

Full report (PDF 64pp)

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Half of pupils expelled from school have mental health issue, study finds

a report by Sally Weale, education correspondent, in the Guardian of 20 July 2017

IPPR thinktank says permanently excluded children in England face significant disadvantage because of ‘broken system’


Only one in a hundred permanently excluded pupils will go on to get five good GCSEs, the study found. Photograph: FangXiaNuo/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Read the Guardian’s report here

The IPPR’s press release heralding the interim report adds ‘burningly unjust system’ to the title above.

I spent quite a while looking for the interim report of July and/or the final report due in September and found neither. The information I did find horrified me quite enough!

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Beyond the Bottom Line: The challenges and opportunities of a living wage

via Resolution Foundation Publications

Beyond the Bottom Line, a joint report from the Resolution Foundation and IPPR, presents the first full economic analysis of the living wage in the UK, including:

• modelling its potential impact on labour demand and considering the potential costs of living wages for employers;
• analysing which workers and families benefit most from the living wage; and
• quantifying the fiscal savings to government of wider living wage coverage.

The report sets out the key lessons that emerge from this analysis and makes recommendations for how campaigners, employers and the state can work together to ensure many more workers benefit from the living wage.

Beyond the Bottom Line: The challenges and opportunities of a living wage by Kayte Lawton (IPPR) and Matthew Pennycook (Resolution Foundation) (PDF 78pp)

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A long division: closing the attainment gap in England's secondary schools

a research paper by Jonathan Clifton and Will Cook (IPPR) published by Institute for Public Policy Research (September 2012)

Introduction

This paper investigates the role schools can play in ensuring all children get a fair start in life. The issue of social mobility has risen up the political agenda in recent years, amid concerns that the opportunities provided by over a decade of economic growth have been too narrowly concentrated among a few groups in society. A series of reports has highlighted Britain’s low levels of social mobility, showing how children from poorer backgrounds struggle to gain access to university, enter professional jobs and earn decent wages (see Milburn 2012, Sutton Trust 2011, Blanden et al 2005). This in turn means disadvantage can become entrenched across the generations.

Low levels of social mobility are rooted in wider changes to the British economy since the 1970s, following the loss of decent jobs at the bottom of the labour market, the professionalisation of jobs at the top of the labour market, and an increase in income inequality, which have all combined to make it harder for people to climb the ladder of opportunity (Duncan and Murnane 2011). A concerted effort will be required in a number of policy areas to address this problem, but education can play a crucial role. A high level of education has become more important for getting a decent job over the past 30 years, meaning those families which are unable to invest in education are left further behind (Lindley and Machin 2012). Education can provide access to many opportunities later in life, and schools can help to create a level playing field for young people as they start out.

The government, in particular, has turned to schools to try and solve this problem, producing a social mobility strategy that focuses heavily on the academic performance of poorer pupils (Clegg 2012). It has introduced a number of policies designed to raise the achievement of pupils from deprived areas, including converting failing schools into academies, reforming the accountability system to put more pressure on weaker schools to improve, and allocating an additional sum of money, known as the ‘pupil premium’, to schools that teach children from poorer homes. Government ministers have expressed a desire to close the ‘stubborn’ gap in achievement at GCSE level that exists between children from deprived areas and their wealthier peers (Gove 2012).

This paper uses original analysis of the latest data available from the National Pupil Database to assess the challenge the government has set itself. It explores the role that schools can play in tackling the link between educational achievement and family income. The first half of the paper sets out the scale of the challenge, and puts the issue in context by comparing how the achievement gap – or, as it is often known, the attainment gap in England has changed over time and in relation to other countries. The second half of the paper examines the nature of the gap in achievement, and argues for the use of targeted interventions as well as wider ‘school improvement’ policies. The paper concludes by modelling the impact that the government’s flagship policy in this area, the pupil premium, might have on the achievement gap, and sets out what it would take to reach the government’s aim of closing it for good.

This paper is concerned with the specific question of what official data sources can reveal about the size and nature of the achievement gap, and how this can inform the design of current government policies. A more comprehensive book, in which leading academics will propose new policy ideas to break the link between poverty and educational achievement, will be published by IPPR later in the year.

Full text (PDF 50pp)

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Creating a world-class school system for England

The Crisis in Careers Guidance

As part of the “Creating a world-class school system for England” project, IPPR asked leading academic Professor Tony Watts to look at the urgent issue of careers guidance. In this short paper, he outlines the problems facing the system.As part of the 'Creating a world-class school system for England' project, IPPR asked leading academic Professor Tony Watts to look at the urgent issue of careers guidance. In this short paper, he outlines the problems facing the system.

These are tough times for young people.
Massive youth unemployment caused by the extended economic slump means that many young people are finding it difficult to find jobs that meet their aspirations, or even jobs of any kind. This is coinciding with huge and often ill-understood changes in higher education funding. Finding their way through the choices that face them is becoming more and more difficult for young people, and particularly so for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who lack access to networks of contacts and support.

Continue reading here

The paper itself may be short but there are links to other items which will be of interest.

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No train, no gain: Beyond free-market and state-led skills policy

an IPPR publication by Kayte Lawton and Tess Lanning

Summary

This report explores why employers do not train. We show that a lack of investment in training is rooted in ‘low-road’ competitive strategies that do not require a well-skilled workforce. While often profitable, these business models have implications for employees, consumers and the state.

Our goal is to support and encourage more firms to adopt competitive strategies that support higher job quality, and at the same time improve the dynamism, innovativeness and resilience of English firms. The weakness of the institutional fabric in England makes this a challenging agenda to pursue.

We advocate an evolutionary approach to reform that responds to the unique contexts in different sectors and locations, and so a key feature is likely to be variability, from one place or sector to another.

Specifically, the report recommends:

• Democratise sector skills councils, to include boards made up of one-third employer representatives, one-third employee representatives and one-third representatives of the state and other stakeholder interests.
• Devolve decision-making power to SSCs to determine strategic funding priorities for skills in their sector and control a combined growth, innovation and training budget. Establish local skills boards at the level of local enterprise partnerships.
• A something-for-something deal with employers to ensure membership of skills boards is mandatory but beneficial.
• A new role for further education colleges to deliver more high-level off-the-job training.
• A focus on high-quality workforce training and development, with qualifications developed by industry stakeholders.
• Funding investment to ensure that all adults have access to a high-quality basic education, and other sources of funding are found to pay for the proposed workforce training and business development services.

Full report (PDF 54pp)

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