an article by Jonathan Bradshaw, Oleksandr Movshuk and Gwyther Rees (Social Policy Research Unit, University of York, UK) published in Poverty Issue 158 (Autumn 2018)
For the last 20 years there has been a mantra among the UK political classes that work is the best solution to poverty. It was the background to the welfare-to-work New Deal programmes in the 2000s. Since 2010, it has been reinforced with more benefit conditionality and punitive sanctions and it has been used to justify many of the austerity measures: the freezing of working-age benefits, the benefit cap, the two-child policy, cuts to employment and support allowance, the bedroom tax and rent limits in housing benefit. And perhaps it reached its apotheosis (or nadir) in the 2017 Department for Work and Pensions paper Improving Lives: helping workless families. The authors unpick the data to reveal that all these work-related measures have instead contributed to undermining living standards and increasing poverty, and have distracted us from the bigger problem of in-work poverty.
Hazel’s comment
There was I, sitting in the British Library, reading this article and becoming more and more incensed. I must find a copy of the whole article somewhere but when I am angry I cannot do a sensible search!
One cup of tea later and I found it.
Full text (PDF 4pp)
Showing posts with label in-work_benefits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label in-work_benefits. Show all posts
Thursday, 22 March 2018
Monday, 19 March 2018
Stemming the tide: What have European Union countries done to support low-wage workers in an era of downward wage pressures?
an article by Sarah Marchal and Ive Marx (University of Antwerp, Belgium) published in Journal of European Social Policy Volume 28 Issue 1 (February 2018)
Abstract
Governments across the European Union (EU) have been striving to get more people into work while at the same time acknowledging that more needs to be done to ‘make work pay’. Yet this drive comes at a time when structural economic shifts are putting pressure on wages, especially of less skilled workers.
This article focuses on trends in minimum wages, income taxes and work-related benefits within a selection of 15 EU countries, for the period 2001–2012, with three US states included as reference cases. We find evidence for eroding relative minimum wages in various EU countries, yet combined with catch-up growth in the new member states.
We also find that governments counteracted eroding minimum wages through direct income support measures, especially for lone parents. Most prevalent among these were substantial declines in income tax liabilities.
Abstract
Governments across the European Union (EU) have been striving to get more people into work while at the same time acknowledging that more needs to be done to ‘make work pay’. Yet this drive comes at a time when structural economic shifts are putting pressure on wages, especially of less skilled workers.
This article focuses on trends in minimum wages, income taxes and work-related benefits within a selection of 15 EU countries, for the period 2001–2012, with three US states included as reference cases. We find evidence for eroding relative minimum wages in various EU countries, yet combined with catch-up growth in the new member states.
We also find that governments counteracted eroding minimum wages through direct income support measures, especially for lone parents. Most prevalent among these were substantial declines in income tax liabilities.
Friday, 28 December 2012
False self-employment: The scandal hitting workers and taxpayers
via ToUChstone blog: A public policy blog from the TUC
Guest post by Rachel Reeves (Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Member of Parliament for Leeds West) and Chuka Umunna (Shadow Business Secretary and Member of Parliament for Streatham)
Bogus self-employment is a scandal that continues to undermine employment rights and hit taxpayers' pockets. There are too many cases of employees being classed as self-employed when in practice they work for a single company, meaning they can be sacked without warning, do not receive holiday or sick pay, have reduced benefit entitlements and are also denied access to employment tribunals. Often desperately searching for employment, workers are made to sign contracts with payroll companies which sign away their basic rights.
Continue reading
Guest post by Rachel Reeves (Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Member of Parliament for Leeds West) and Chuka Umunna (Shadow Business Secretary and Member of Parliament for Streatham)
Bogus self-employment is a scandal that continues to undermine employment rights and hit taxpayers' pockets. There are too many cases of employees being classed as self-employed when in practice they work for a single company, meaning they can be sacked without warning, do not receive holiday or sick pay, have reduced benefit entitlements and are also denied access to employment tribunals. Often desperately searching for employment, workers are made to sign contracts with payroll companies which sign away their basic rights.
Continue reading
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
In-Work Poverty
GINI Discussion Paper Number 51 by Ive Marx (University of Antwerp) and Brian Nolan (University College Dublin)
Introduction
While in-work poverty is not a new problem, the degree of attention it is receiving in Europe is more recent, reflecting at least two concurrent sources of concern (Andreβ and Lohmann 2008; OECD 2008; European Foundation 2010; Fraser et al. 2011; Crettaz 2011; European Commission 2011).
Deindustrialisation, intensifying international trade and skill-biased technological change are said to be threatening if not effectively eroding the (potential) earnings and living standards of some workers in advanced economies.
Yet at the same time, policy at EU level and in many countries has become focused on increasing the number of people relying on earnings, and particularly on drawing into the labour market those with the weakest education and work history profiles.
The Europe 2020 target of boosting employment rates to 75 per cent of the population aged 20 to 64 shows this drive to be undiminished. Sharply increased unemployment in some countries following on from the onset of the economic crisis has only served to increase the emphasis on getting people into jobs. In light of these trends, there would appear to be legitimate concern that larger sections of the workforce are being expected to rely on jobs that do not generate sufficient income to escape poverty.
This paper starts with a discussion of current debates about in-work poverty and underlying driving forces. It turns to issues of definition and measurement of in-work poverty, which are central to adequate analysis and policy formulation, and then examines the variation across countries and over time in-work poverty using data from EUSILC.
With low-paid work often seen as a key driver, we look at the empirical evidence first about the extent and nature of low pay, and then at its complex relationship with in-work poverty.
This brings out that in-work poverty is strongly associated not so much with low hourly pay per se but rather with single-earnership and low work intensity at the household level, as well as working part-time or part-year or on temporary contract at the individual level.
Against this background, the remainder of the paper is devoted to what policy can do to prevent or address in-work poverty, starting with an examination of what an incremental augmentation/modification of the traditional minimum income protection provisions for workers could potentially achieve.
We then ask whether innovative options such as EITC/WTC type negative income taxes offer a model for emulation. Finally we discuss the broader implications for effective anti-poverty tools and strategies, and how these may differ across institutional settings.
Full text (PDF 48pp)
Published by GINI: Growing Inequalities’s Impacts, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies, University of Amsterdam in July 2012
Introduction
While in-work poverty is not a new problem, the degree of attention it is receiving in Europe is more recent, reflecting at least two concurrent sources of concern (Andreβ and Lohmann 2008; OECD 2008; European Foundation 2010; Fraser et al. 2011; Crettaz 2011; European Commission 2011).
Deindustrialisation, intensifying international trade and skill-biased technological change are said to be threatening if not effectively eroding the (potential) earnings and living standards of some workers in advanced economies.
Yet at the same time, policy at EU level and in many countries has become focused on increasing the number of people relying on earnings, and particularly on drawing into the labour market those with the weakest education and work history profiles.
The Europe 2020 target of boosting employment rates to 75 per cent of the population aged 20 to 64 shows this drive to be undiminished. Sharply increased unemployment in some countries following on from the onset of the economic crisis has only served to increase the emphasis on getting people into jobs. In light of these trends, there would appear to be legitimate concern that larger sections of the workforce are being expected to rely on jobs that do not generate sufficient income to escape poverty.
This paper starts with a discussion of current debates about in-work poverty and underlying driving forces. It turns to issues of definition and measurement of in-work poverty, which are central to adequate analysis and policy formulation, and then examines the variation across countries and over time in-work poverty using data from EUSILC.
With low-paid work often seen as a key driver, we look at the empirical evidence first about the extent and nature of low pay, and then at its complex relationship with in-work poverty.
This brings out that in-work poverty is strongly associated not so much with low hourly pay per se but rather with single-earnership and low work intensity at the household level, as well as working part-time or part-year or on temporary contract at the individual level.
Against this background, the remainder of the paper is devoted to what policy can do to prevent or address in-work poverty, starting with an examination of what an incremental augmentation/modification of the traditional minimum income protection provisions for workers could potentially achieve.
We then ask whether innovative options such as EITC/WTC type negative income taxes offer a model for emulation. Finally we discuss the broader implications for effective anti-poverty tools and strategies, and how these may differ across institutional settings.
Full text (PDF 48pp)
Published by GINI: Growing Inequalities’s Impacts, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies, University of Amsterdam in July 2012
Monday, 11 June 2012
Working poor, labour market and social protection in the EU: a comparative perspective
an article by Yannis Dafermos and Christos Papatheodorou (affiliation(s) not provided) published in International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy Volume 6 Number 1/2 (2012)
Abstract
This paper offers some crucial insights into the incidence and determinants of in-work poverty in the EU.
It shows that in-work poverty plays a principal role in the determination of overall poverty, and it explores the impact of the social protection system and labour market conditions on the incidence of in-work poverty. The comparative analysis illustrates that higher flexibility in the labour market may have an unfavourable impact on in-work poverty.
It also brings to the fore the prominent role of the social protection system in the alleviation of poverty among the working population.
Abstract
This paper offers some crucial insights into the incidence and determinants of in-work poverty in the EU.
It shows that in-work poverty plays a principal role in the determination of overall poverty, and it explores the impact of the social protection system and labour market conditions on the incidence of in-work poverty. The comparative analysis illustrates that higher flexibility in the labour market may have an unfavourable impact on in-work poverty.
It also brings to the fore the prominent role of the social protection system in the alleviation of poverty among the working population.
Sunday, 28 August 2011
The impact of a time-limited, targeted in-work benefit in the medium-term:…
an evaluation of in work credit
IFS (Institute for Fiscal Studies) Working Paper W11/14 by Mike Brewer (Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex and IFS), James Browne and Haroon Chowdry (IFS) and Claire Crawford (Institute of Education, University of London and IFS)
Abstract
Conventional in-work benefits or tax credits are now well established as a policy instrument for increasing labour supply and tackling poverty. A different sort of in-work credit is one where the payments are time-limited, conditional on previous receipt of welfare, and, perhaps, not means-tested. Such a design is cheaper, and perhaps better targeted, but potentially less effective. Using administrative data, this paper evaluates one such policy for lone parents in the UK which was piloted in around one third of the country. It finds that the policy did increase flows off welfare and into work, and that these positive effects did not diminish after recipients reached the 12 month time-limit for receiving the supplement. Most of the impact arose by speeding up welfare off-flows: the job retention of programme recipients was good, but this cannot be attributed to the programme itself.
This paper is based on research commissioned by the UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Full text (PDF 39pp)
IFS (Institute for Fiscal Studies) Working Paper W11/14 by Mike Brewer (Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex and IFS), James Browne and Haroon Chowdry (IFS) and Claire Crawford (Institute of Education, University of London and IFS)
Abstract
Conventional in-work benefits or tax credits are now well established as a policy instrument for increasing labour supply and tackling poverty. A different sort of in-work credit is one where the payments are time-limited, conditional on previous receipt of welfare, and, perhaps, not means-tested. Such a design is cheaper, and perhaps better targeted, but potentially less effective. Using administrative data, this paper evaluates one such policy for lone parents in the UK which was piloted in around one third of the country. It finds that the policy did increase flows off welfare and into work, and that these positive effects did not diminish after recipients reached the 12 month time-limit for receiving the supplement. Most of the impact arose by speeding up welfare off-flows: the job retention of programme recipients was good, but this cannot be attributed to the programme itself.
This paper is based on research commissioned by the UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Full text (PDF 39pp)
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