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Research in COMPAS (Centre on Migration, Policy and Society, in the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, Oxford) on low-waged migrant labour, particularly in the care sector, has contributed significantly to public debate and policy development on migrant labour, labour demand, and trafficking and forced labour.
Led by Anderson, COMPAS's work in these fields has directly impacted upon (1) international debate, by informing the position of the UN and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on trafficking; (2) UK immigration policy and practice by making a key contribution to how skills and labour shortages are conceptualized for the purposes of policy; and (3) the work of trade unions and NGOs in the UK by demonstrating links between forced labour and labour market flexibility, a connection that has been taken up in campaigning.
Core labour rights have a crucial role in achieving economic prosperity and political stability on a national and global scale. The emergence of complex global trade networks has raised important questions as to how such rights could be implemented and enforced across multiple supply chains and geographical borders. Research at the Centre for Labour Market Studies, School of Management, Leicester has helped the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the EU understand the advantages and risks associated with International Framework Agreements (IFAs), particularly regarding their implementation in supply chains. IFAs have emerged as a specific instrument to secure core labour rights and shift the onus away from nation states. Between 2000 and 2013 the number of IFAs in operation around the world increased from five to more than 100, directly benefiting more than 10 million workers and indirectly benefiting tens of millions more. Leicester research has played a part in understanding the dynamics of IFAs and developing more effective ones.
Research on the post-apartheid South African labour market showed high levels of economic inactivity among black people concentrated in certain areas and high employee turnover among these groups. An integrated development programme was developed in and around Port Elizabeth tailored to address specific failings in labour market supply and demand identified by the research findings. This brought greatly improved employment rates for over 3,000 participating job seekers, with more than 80% achieving a positive outcome in terms of employment or further training. Furthermore, the programme reduced turnover rates for those employers involved in the project, and built the capacity of Union workforce representatives. The development programme comprising integrated training workshops and employer support is now being rolled out across South Africa.
Our research has impacted on policy and practice in the area of welfare to work, employment and skills, especially at regional and national levels. The most important impact has been through Professor Campbell's move to the UK Commission for Employment and Skills as Director of Research and Policy and subsequent applied research work by the PRI for the UK Commission on Employment and Skills (UKCES), which has contributed to the development of their policies on skills and employment. These policies in turn have informed government policy on skills, training and workforce development, and the work of the Sector Skills Councils to influence employers' practices, for example in the area of career development of staff. At the regional level, the main impact has been on skills policy through work for the Regional Development Agency.
There is an inherent tension between progress in the European Union's marketization agenda on the one hand, and the agenda for the development of European social citizenship on the other. Although markets internalise and manage many aspects of economic activity, the process of marketization also creates and ignores negative social and economic consequences. Focussing on uncertainty and insecurity in labour markets, the research by Crouch, Marginson and Meardi addressed the capacity of public and private employee relations and corporate governance arrangements, including collective bargaining and immigration, to offset these negative consequences. European policy makers are now gaining an interest in mitigating the effects of marketization. As a result, this timely research has challenged conventional wisdom that marketization promises unqualified gains and has stimulated significant ongoing policy and trade union debate across Europe.
Bell and Blanchflower's research on youth unemployment has been highly influential in affecting policy directions in both the UK and Europe during the Great Recession. It has also generated substantial public concern for a `lost generation' of unemployed young people through their sustained engagement in media and public debate.
A new methodology has been developed that enables a more flexible approach to understanding the effects of immigration on the labour market and the native-born labour force. The key finding is that the effect of immigration on wages and employment depends on the extent of the substitutability between immigrant and native born labour. This substitutability differs at different skill levels, so that immigration has a greater effect on unskilled native born workers. This new methodology's findings have informed the debate over labour market effects and have influenced the development of related policies by Government and other key stakeholders.
The evidence produced by Professor Wadsworth's research directly has shaped or influenced policy made by government. In particular, the research has been used as input into several key policy recommendations made by the Home Office sponsored Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) (of which Wadsworth is a member) to inform the coalition government's declared aim of achieving a reduction in the levels of net migration in the current parliament to the tens of thousands. The research has been cited by numerous stakeholders in the debate on the impact of rising immigration on the labour market. There are numerous examples of citations in a public discussion, consultation document or judgement.
The regulation of labour immigration and the rights of migrant workers are among the most contested public policy issues in high-income countries. Oxford research by Ruhs and Anderson, in conjunction with Martin (UC Davis), on how labour markets, welfare states and other public policies shape the demand for migrant workers, has directly impacted on: labour immigration policymaking in the UK (via the recommendations of the Migration Advisory Committee); the development of legislation for comprehensive immigration reform in the US; and policy debates in the Netherlands. The related research by Ruhs on the trade-offs between openness and rights in labour immigration policymaking has also informed debates and proposals about the global governance of international labour migration at the United Nations and other international institutions.