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The number of women in part-time employment is now 5.9 million, accounting for around 40% of all female employment. The hourly rates of pay for women in part-time employment are 35% lower than those for women in full-time employment and just under 12% of part-time jobs were paid at or below the National Minimum Wage (NMW) compared with 3% of full-time jobs. Research at the University of East Anglia (UEA) into part-time employment, led by Sara Connolly (Norwich Business School), has had a direct impact on policy debate and provision in this area. Among other impacts, the Low Pay Commission (LPC) uses the research in evidence every time it debates likely impacts of an increase in the National Minimum Wage, and this has benefited part-time workers. The research has also influenced wider thinking about part-time work, and the UK government's consideration of flexible working.
European employment research at Manchester Business School's European Work and Employment Research Centre (EWERC) has had a significant impact on international policymaking bodies, specifically the European Commission (EC), the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Demonstrated policy impact includes: the defining and strengthening of a gender mainstreaming and gender pay policy in Europe; technical improvements in the European Commission's approach to the European Employment Strategy (EES) (which all EU member states are required to report on and implement); and greater precision (regarding up-to-date data and the functioning of labour market institutions) in EC and ILO policy recommendations on low wage work, minimum wages and regulation for decent work.
Research on gender inequalities at the University of Manchester (UoM) has informed and shaped the development of employment policies advocated by key national and international bodies — such as the United Nations' International Labour Organization (ILO), the European Commission (EC), Eurofound and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) — in their role as advisors of national governments and regulators. Impacts are twofold. By advancing international comparative analyses of gender inequalities in employment and job quality, EU employment policy has been informed. By analysing gender inequality trends, alongside evolving national policies, the research has successfully steered key debates around both `working-time' and `work-life balance'.
The long-term impacts outlined in this case study relate to low-paid women workers in health and local government sectors in the UK. Professor Carole Thornley undertook some of the earliest and most sustained academic research focusing on these workers. Through this she identified systematic undervaluation of their skills and competencies, as well as problems with training, career advancement, pay, and payment systems. The evidence from this research has been used in successive pay determination exercises and reviews of payment systems, valuation of skills, and to inform public policy. This has put these workers higher on the agenda of both unions and employers, informing their practice and leading to improvements in training and pay conditions.
Southampton based research on the interactions of a minimum wage policy and tax evasion has had a direct and clearly acknowledged impact on shaping the labour market policies of Hungary and other Southern European countries, while its research on the role of universal versus targeted benefits on employment has had a significant impact on Swedish fiscal policy. Looking at labour market policies in a broader context and from a behavioural economics point of view (e.g. payroll giving), our findings on charitable giving and workers' motivation have also been used by the UK government's Behavioural Insights Team and impacted its recommendations on giving. The same research is currently influencing US policy on the tax treatment of charitable contributions.
Around 55,000 young workers in Britain have benefited from a 20 per cent wage increase as a direct result of research by Richard Dickens of the University of Sussex. His work led to a legislative change (which became effective in October 2010) whereby the starting age for eligibility for the adult National Minimum Wage (NMW) was reduced from 22 to 21 years old.
More generally, Dickens' research on the wage and employment effects of the NMW has long informed the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission (LPC) — on the rate at which the NMW is set, on the associated regulations and on the LPC's evaluation of the impact of the NMW. His research has provided the LPC and the government with strong validation for the use of the NMW as a policy tool for tackling low incomes and wage inequality. It also allays fears that the NMW might lead to a damaging wage-price spiral.
The research conducted by Dr Deborah Dean provided the first reliable benchmark study of how age and gender affects the employment realities of professional performers across Europe. The research has influenced the practices of professional bodies, resulting in trade union organisations changing their codes of practice and introducing new measures designed to address age and gender inequality. The research provided a concrete resource for international performers' unions to use in employer negotiations and contributed to political debate and led to a House of Commons Early Day motion on gender inequality in the arts. It also led to the launch of an online petition receiving over 10,000 public signatures, and triggered the creation and implementation of the EU Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee's Framework of Actions.
Professor Mark Stewart analysed the impact of the National Minimum Wage (NMW), providing a research-based answer to the question of whether a minimum wage would protect low skilled workers or leave them worse off by reducing demand for labour. Stewart analysed the NMW after it was introduced in 1999 and through subsequent upratings and consistently found negligible employment effects, modest hours effects, and little evidence of spillover effects. Stewart published reports and journal publications, supplying evidence that directly assisted the Low Pay Commission's (LPC) policy decisions. The minimum wage is now established policy, increasing earnings for millions of the UK's lowest-income workers and reducing income inequality and the gender pay gap.
Professor Pedro Martins' research expertise is on labour economics, including dismissals, wages and social returns of education. From June 2011 until February 2013, he was seconded from Queen Mary to undertake the key role of Portuguese Secretary of State for Employment. Informed by his research, he initiated and implemented a programme of effective labour market legislative reforms over a relatively short period of time. A reformed labour code (four changes of law) and several ordnances, resolutions and other policy change were the outcome, affecting individual dismissals, working time, collective bargaining, training and active labour market policies. His aim was to reduce unemployment by partly deregulating the labour market, so reducing the disincentives for firms to employ people, and by promoting active labour market policies to raise skill levels within the economy. The reforms affected approximately five million people. Following the reforms, Portugal moved to eighth place (in 2009 it was first) out of 34 countries in terms of the strength of permanent employees' protection (OECD Employment Outlook 2012); and unemployment fell, from 17.7% to 15.6%, and GDP increased, by 1.3%, between the first and third quarters of 2013.
Professor Claire Callender's timely research has informed the policy debate about financial support for part-time undergraduates in England. Her research significantly raised awareness and understanding within government, and more widely, about the case for reform by highlighting the deleterious effects of the pre-2012/13 funding system on the supply of, and demand for, part-time study. It influenced major changes in student funding arrangements for part-time undergraduates introduced in 2012/13, and modified their on-going development. Policymakers have benefitted from her research, alongside higher education (HE) institutions, HE stakeholders and practitioners, and part-time students eligible for the new loans.