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Location Quotients (LQs) remain an important tool for geographical analysis, particularly in terms of assessing industrial specialisation and clustering. LQs as decision aids are typically understood through the use of arbitrarily set cut-off values. However, LQs are rarely accompanied by an associated level of variance that can be connected with the estimated data used to calculate them. This paper reveals the importance of understanding this variance and shows how confidence intervals can be estimated for employment-based LQs. A systematic process is introduced, through which the arbitrariness of cut-off-value choice can be mitigated and borderline industry cases in terms of their LQ values and the considered cut-off value, identified. A case from a UK region is used to illustrate the issues covered in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although migrants dominate employment in many major cities, the reasons for this, and the mechanisms by which they are recruited, are surprisingly under-researched. Focusing on the numerically dominant small hotel sub-sector in a global city, London, the paper first questions whether labour costs or competences are the main drivers of migrant employment, emphasising the difficulties of disentangling the relationships between these. Secondly, it analyses how migrant workers are recruited, and finds less evidence to support the concepts of ethnic queuing and co-ethnic recruitment as opposed to diversified migrant recruitment in the context of the super-diversity of migrant populations in a global city. Finally, it demonstrates that although there are compelling reasons for migrant employment in London’s small hotels, and that this is supported by a number of recruitment practices, they are unevenly distributed across establishments, reflecting the complex nature of migrant employment in a highly diverse sub-sector. The research utilises mixed methods, drawing on a survey of 155 hotel managers and 51 in-depth interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the role of generalized trust and control in households' employment of domestic help. Applying a basic trust game with uncertainty, we argue that households differ in their estimate of the proportion of opportunistic domestic workers, variation which we ascribe to generalized trust. Households with low trust should estimate a lower proportion of non-opportunistic individuals, making them less willing to accept a domestic worker. Control, through direct supervision of the domestic worker, is assumed to serve as a substitute for trust and is expected to increase acceptance. We also consider the role of income, which we expect to alter the relation between the potential losses and gains associated with outsourcing. To test our hypotheses, we use a factorial survey conducted in 2020 in Germany and the UK (N = 1877) which enables us to explore the robustness of the effects across countries. Experimental results show that individuals are more accepting of domestic outsourcing if they have higher trust, higher income, and if control of the worker is easily possible. Interaction effects reveal that the positive effect of higher trust and higher income is only relevant in low control situations. This suggest that households with higher trust and income have an advantage when it comes to fully utilizing the benefits of domestic help since costly control is not required. Consequently, the results substantially contribute to existing literature on explaining causes of social inequality in service use beyond financial restrictions and shed light on the complex interplay of trust and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although previous research suggests that a large proportion of young adults experience ageism, information is scarce regarding exactly how often they encounter different forms of age-based discrimination. To address this lacuna, we recruited young adults from the U.K. to complete four weekly surveys in which they reported the number of days during the preceding week on which they experienced various forms of ageism. More than three-quarters of our respondents experienced some form of ageism at least once during the reporting period, and more than one-quarter of respondents experienced ageism (on average) at least once per week during the reporting period. The most oft-encountered forms of ageism encountered by young adults involved being shown a lack of respect/being patronized and having other people make assumptions about their cognitive or social characteristics. Most commonly, the perpetrators of ageism were middle-aged and later middle-aged persons (rather than older people) encountered in the course of employment. The number of days on which young adults experienced ageism was inversely correlated with the degree to which they believed middle-aged and later-middle aged adults held positive stereotypes of young adults, and positively predicted the desire to avoid interaction with middle-aged, late middle-aged, and older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this commentary we focus upon resistance to the UK’s Work Experience programme that aims to help the young unemployed secure paid employment. The programme hit the news headlines in February 2012 when the group, Right to Work, forced concessions from the UK’s Coalition government that removed sanctions for Work Experience conscripts who left their placement after a week. The paper critically engages with the Right to Work’s demand for ‘real jobs’, paying at least the minimum wage, suggesting that such demands are in danger of buttressing capitalist exploitation, rather than providing an alternative to it. The paper argues a more radical approach is required if the role of policies, such as Work Experience, in the societalization of capitalist accumulation is to be avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Within the context of theoretical and policy debates about the new economic geography and an urban renaissance, this paper examines how far and in what way ‘Our cities are back’, as claimed by England’s Core Cities Group. It focuses on 1984–2007 employment changes for the eight Core Cities and their city-regions: Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield. These provincial city-regions are found to have suffered from the early 1990s recession relatively less than London, but then recovered more slowly. While they continued to gain jobs until 2007, their growth rate relative to the national average peaked in 1998–2002, which was also the only time that Core Cities themselves outpaced the rest of their city-regions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Personal insolvency rates vary considerably across local areas of England and Wales but the reasons for this have barely been explored. This paper presents an empirical study of the factors determining variations in personal insolvency rates in 2006 utilising newly available data. The results suggest that a number of economic and demographic factors are important including income, social benefits, age, occupation, public-sector and armed forces employment and level of local entrepreneurship. Significant spatial autocorrelation is evident in the dataset and three sub-regional clusters of local authorities are identified; one in the South West is characterised by adjacent areas with a high insolvency rate and two others in Wales and the North West that are characterised by low insolvency rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Patients with a combination of long-term physical health problems can face barriers in obtaining appropriate treatment for co-existing mental health problems. This paper evaluates the impact of integrating the improving access to psychological therapies services (IAPT) model with services addressing physical health problems. We ask whether such services can reduce secondary health care utilization costs and improve the employment prospects of those so affected. Methods: We used a stepped-wedge design of two cohorts of a total of 1,096 patients with depression and/or anxiety and comorbid long-term physical health conditions from three counties within the Thames Valley from March to August 2017. Panels were balanced. Difference-in-difference models were employed in an intention-to-treat analysis. Results: The new Integrated-IAPT was associated with a decrease of 6.15 (95% CI: −6.84 to −5.45) [4.83 (95% CI: −5.47 to −4.19]) points in the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [generalized anxiety disorder-7] and £360 (95% CI: –£559 to –£162) in terms of secondary health care utilization costs per person in the first three months of treatment. The Integrated-IAPT was also associated with an 8.44% (95% CI: 1.93% to 14.9%) increased probability that those who were unemployed transitioned to employment. Conclusions: Mental health treatment in care model with Integrated-IAPT seems to have significantly reduced secondary health care utilization costs among persons with long-term physical health conditions and increased their probability of employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abolishing 'modern slavery' has now achieved international policy consensus. The most recent UK initiative – the 2015 Modern Slavery Act (MSA) – includes amongst other aspects tougher prison sentencing for perpetrators and the creation of an independent anti-slavery commissioner to oversee its implementation. However, drawing on research into forced labour among people seeking asylum in England, this article argues that when considered alongside the UK government's deliberate creation of a 'hostile environment' towards migrants, not least in the Immigration Acts of 2014 and 2016, state action to outlaw modern slavery is flawed, counter-productive and disingenuous. We show how the MSA focuses only on the immediate act of coercion between 'victim' and 'criminal', ignoring how the hostile state vulnerabilises migrants in ways that compel their entry into and continued entrapment within severe labour exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are substantial variations in labour market outcomes between neighbourhoods. One potential partial explanation is that residents of some neighbourhoods face discrimination from employers. Although studies of deprived areas have recorded resident perceptions of discrimination by employers and negative employer perceptions of certain areas, until now there has been no direct evidence on whether employers treat job applicants differently by area of residence. This paper reports a unique experiment to test for a neighbourhood reputation effect involving 2001 applications to 667 real jobs by fictional candidates nominally resident in neighbourhoods with poor and bland reputations. The experiment found no statistically significant difference in employer treatment of applicants from these areas, indicating that people living in neighbourhoods with poor reputations did not face ‘postcode discrimination’ in the labour market, at the initial selection stage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Disabled people are increasingly being drawn into the UK Labour government's strategy to address area-based deprivation through projects which focus on employability as a means of tackling social exclusion. This paper draws on a case study of an employment project aimed at young people with learning difficulties funded as part of the Single Regeneration Budget, to explore how such projects operate in the context of area-based renewal, and with what gains, if any, for disabled people. The case study suggests that the perceived contribution of the project -- and people with learning difficulties -- to the area was as much about social regeneration, as building a local economy through the creation of active workers. Whilst being part of the SRB seemed to offer some opportunities for participation, the parameters of the policy itself -- including its spatiality -- acted to circumscribe some of the potential linkages with broader area renewal processes and the potential benefits for project participants, thus raising questions about New Labour's social inclusion agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been widespread interest across various national contexts in employers' use of contingent forms of labour. The tendency to conflate different contract types into catch-all categories has increasingly given way to recognition of the differences between forms of labour. Despite this, systematic comparisons of employers' attitudes to different forms of labour remain an underdeveloped area of research. Drawing on an original survey of the UK construction sector this paper offers new insight into employers' attitudes to different forms of contingent labour and tracks changes in their use. Uniquely, the analysis of movement between different forms of labour goes beyond approaches that focus on the dichotomy between direct and contingent labour to trace a more complex pattern of movement between the different contingent forms. This more nuanced picture of changing patterns of employers' use of contingent labour suggests an area for development in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The current shortage of nurses is a major problem for health care systems around the world and has revitalized interest in the dynamics of nurses' careers. This paper investigates the factors associated with qualified nurses in Britain moving to different employment statuses, including jobs outside nursing, unemployment, maternity leave and family care over time. Methods: British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) data collected between 1991 and 2001 were used to estimate the effects of covariates on transition rates between different employment statuses. Results: Individual characteristics associated with shorter tenure in the profession include being male, being younger, having a degree, and having been born in the UK. Many nurses leave to care for their families, which suggests the possibility of returning to the profession at a later date. A number of job characteristics are also related to leaving, including low pay, managerial responsibility, full-time work and lack of opportunities to use initiative. Nurses seem to be particularly vulnerable to leaving early in their careers, but those who survive the first few years are likely to remain in the profession for the rest of their working lives. Conclusions: It is particularly important in policy terms that ability to use initiative is related to leaving nursing for another form of full-time employment and, in particular, to leaving for a better job. This finding is consistent with results from studies of the Magnet hospitals in the US. Taken together, these results suggest that strategies to improve nurse retention must attend to nurses' status, authority and position in the hierarchy if they are to be successful. The results also provide strong support for those who argue that better rates of pay are necessary in order to improve nurse retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on an invited presentation to the British Menopause Society conference in May 2016, about the author's research on women's experience of the menopause and work in the UK. It summarises that work and considers recommendations for employers, women and healthcare practitioners who advise them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paid care work has traditionally been marginalised within the sociology of work. This paper argues that this absence needs to be addressed and redressed as paid care is an increasingly important source of employment for women in Britain. Ethnographic material from a study of the labour of auxiliaries in a nursing home is used to illustrate how paid care is affected by factors similar to those which are salient in other forms of work. Like workers in non-care occupations, paid carers use resistance as an everyday strategy to get through their work. This paper argues that ethnographic approaches, favoured by sociologists who studied factory labour in the 1970s and 1980s, may prove to be crucial in revealing that care work is real work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the relative impact of a range of health, economic and structural factors on the employment experience of older male workers in Britain in the 30 years since 1951. It is based on a cross-sectional analysis of data on age of workforce in 34 industrial sectors drawn from the decennial censuses from 1951 to 1981. It finds that early retirement is influenced primarily by economic factors, although health becomes important in 1981. Retirement at age 65 appears to be conditioned by structural factors, particularly the way in which exit from the labour force at age 65 is managed by employers and trade unions. By showing that retirement and early retirement behaviour are influenced by different factors, and that the importance of these factors has changed over time, this paper demonstrates why earlier research focusing on monocausal explanations has been unable to generate robust results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper involves analysis of the law covering discrimination in the workplace against workers who have entered into a formal marriage or a civil partnership, referred to here as ‘marital discrimination’. It also looks at the law dealing with discrimination against single workers. The case law in the United Kingdom concerning both these issues is considered and the protection under the law of the European Union and human rights legislation is analysed. In addition, the legal treatment of discrimination in the workplace against people who have entered into a heterosexual or same-sex marriage in the United States is considered. Recommendations are made for changing the law in both the UK and the US in light of the unclear legal rules and inadequate protection in both jurisdictions for victims of marital and singles discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has had a significant and measurable impact on individuals and families in economically deprived areas both in the United Kingdom and internationally. This article examines issues of community resilience and service adaptability and focuses on the period during the first lockdown in the United Kingdom (May to July 2020). Data were collected from members of the local community in Southend, with specific reference to the 'A Better Start Southend' programme of support. The evidence presented in this article uncovers the impact of the 'first lockdown' on families with young children, and local children's and community services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article is based on the accounts of a group of children who work at an artisanal gold mining site. Their work is potentially harmful; yet, it is also the means by which they attempt to access their rights to education and other opportunities. The article argues that child labour preventative efforts must recognize and address this complication. This is in order to develop interventions that unquestionably serve some working children’s best interests. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses abstracts of various research papers published in the earlier issue of the journal "Work, Employment and Society". One of the article talks about British sociology of work's perspective by giving voice to the interpretations which informed the literature on both modern and post-modern identities. Another article discusses a range of British approaches to the analysis of work and employment relations that can be seen as critical and materialist but have an ambiguous relationship to Marxism. Another article discusses the ways in which employees can survive surveillance. Arguing that employee behavior is typically characterized by elements of both consent and resistance, the article proposes that "survival practices" may be a useful concept for understanding employee behavior. Management-union relations in British workplaces have changed significantly over the past two decades. In the private sector, firms have been subject to increased market competition, corporate turbulence and labor rationalization.

The paper describes the current employment patterns of men and women in local government in Scotland, Wales and England,and examines the gender relations of work during a period of restructuring which is challenging the professionalised welfare bureaucracy and replacing it with a managerialised state informed by market principles. Men are declining as a percentage of employees, alongside decreasing numbers of full-time jobs and increasing part-time and temporary contracts, suggesting some decrease in the relative desirability of public service employment. Nevertheless the challenges to traditional conceptions of paternalistic, bureaucratic welfare have facilitated women's increasing access to professional and managerial grades, but men have continued to dominate most positions of power and authority The continuing gender divisions of labour, and women's perceptions of a sharper axis of gender conflict surrounding the period of reorganisation into single tier authorities in Scotland and Wales, suggest that it is not simply a matter of time until a rational, functional state eradicates remaining inequalities between the sexes. Neither however can a radical feminist perspective, which treats the state as bound to reproduce women's subordination, account for the degree of progressive change. Instead it is argued that there is genuine indeterminacy in the restructuring process, which, given women's representation and participation, seems likely to disrupt further the legacy of patriarchal relations informing the trajectory of state bureaucracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presented here are the findings of a research study undertaken between 2015 and 2018 that focused on existing arrangements and mechanisms for front-line identification of the victims of forced labour in the UK. The study drew upon interviews with service professionals in enforcement and policing organisations together with workers in non-governmental victim support agencies. These findings reveal significant failings in current approaches, that suggest processes for the identification of victims remain, at best, uneven from service to service, location to location, at worst wholly inadequate. The study also exposed widespread stakeholder concerns around UK government regulatory guidance and immigration policies, suggesting that these were hindering rather than assisting them in the process of identification. Further, that the deregulated employment environment was one in which forced labour practices could both thrive and remain well-hidden amongst wider employer exploitation and abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between patterns of self-employment and patterns of home ownership in England in the 1990s. It does this via a secondary analysis of the Survey of English Housing. It argues that for many of the self-employed both the housing boom and the economic boom of the 1980s and the housing and economic recessions of the 1990s have been mutually constitutive. The growth and sustainability of self-employment and of home ownership are two sides of the same socio-political coir. In the 1980s they both boomed and in the early 1990s they both bust. For the future, after the enterprise culture, the two forces are likely to pull in opposite directions, with increasing reliance on self-employment but with housing constituting both a constraint and a risk. Owner occupation is unlikely to offer the means for small business growth that it did in the 1980s, but equally, will make financial demands that the self- employed may find hard to meet. The extremes of boom and bust may be avoided towards 2000, but the livelihoods and homes of self-employed mortgagors are still likely to be precarious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Technical and Vocational Education Initiative (TVEI) is a four year programme of study for 14-18 year olds which aims to provide vocational and general education broadly related to employment trends. It was announced by the Prime Minister in 1982 and in 1986 the government signalled its intention to extend TVEI to all local education authorities (LEAs) in England and Wales. Although it is not yet clear how much of TVEI will be retained within or alongside the National Curriculum, elements of the Initiative will undoubtedly affect the future education of school students. The central curricular feature of TVEI has been work- experience and in 1988 the Department of Education and Science (DES) announced that this activity was to be extended to all secondary students in England and Wales. This paper analyses the recent development of work-experience, locates it within broader shifts which have taken place in the school- society relationship and uses data from eight LEAs to examine its organization and effects on participating students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews trends in self-employment up to the 1980s and beyond, and looks at the composition and characteristics of the self-employed workforce. It examines the causes of the current rise in self-employment - in particular employers' strategy of transferring jobs and functions from their 'core' workforce of full-time permanent employees to 'peripheral' workforce which includes self-employed labour-only subcontractors as well as pan-time workers and people with limited duration contracts of employment. It looks at the recent inflow to self-employment - in particular the importance of involuntary entrants. It examines the ideology of self- employment, and whether it differs substantively from the work orientations of employees. Problems of definition and measurement are summarised. The review concludes with pointers for further research - both qualitative and quantitative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over each of the three decades between 1951 and 1981 the total female labour force grew both in absolute numbers and relative to the male labour force. However, there was a tremendous variation in the pattern of change across different industrial sectors, which this paper analyses using Census of Population employment data standardised to the 1968 Standard Industrial Classification. Although the cyclical and substitution theories of the demand for female labour offer a partial explanation for the different patterns of change observed, it is also necessary to take into account other relevant features of individual industries, for example the proportion of the female work- force in manufacturing industries which is employed in production related manual jobs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an argumentation regarding the impact of the similarities of key features of the British and Canadian markets on the latter's experience on cable systems. It states that the cultural and employment implications of the financial success of cable in Great Britain depends on its responsibility in bringing the U.S. programming in the country. It also explores the discouraging prospects for pay-television (TV) as its size mitigates against the proliferation of pay channels.

Continued employment in later life is important for economic well-being and health, and is a key policy issue. However, existing models of the determinants of extended working life do not provide a detailed account of coupled women's early retirement patterns in the United Kingdom. This article uses data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing to show that partnered women aged between 50 and 59 do not adjust the timing of their labour force exit according to the level of pension wealth the couple has accrued. A retired or inactive spouse, caring obligations and poor health accelerate employment exit. Moreover, the odds of an involuntary exit from the labour force, where women have limited control or choice over the timing, are higher for women in lower pension wealth households than those in high wealth families, and among women with inactive rather than retired partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how work and employment conditions for young workers are affected by the actions of the state at the spatial scale of the locality. The article argues that young workers have experienced deteriorating labour market conditions following shifts in the form which capitalist accumulation takes in the UK. This shift has altered the composition of the national state which has in turn led to changes in how it regulates both local labour markets and the economic strategies of the local state. One result of these changes is the diffusion of neoliberal labour market reforms which have led to negative material consequences for young workers; these are manifest in the expansion of low-waged work concentrated in a small number of sectors, and characterized by an intensified labour process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Erasmus student mobility is the most recognised element of Erasmus+ and clearly popular with an increase in student uptake from 3,000 in 1987 to over 300,000 today. Recent studies show that students from lower socio-economic backgrounds are less likely to study abroad than better-off students, thereby benefitting less from improved employment opportunities and language competences often associated with mobility. Unequal uptake is generally explained by students' choices: disadvantaged students hold lower social capital which leads them to decide against mobility. However, not much is known about the importance of students' selection into universities and fields of study. Using multilevel logistic regressions, this article examines whether social segregation in universities and field of study matters beyond individual characteristics for explaining unequal Erasmus mobility uptake. The study exploits rich population data of around 200,000 UK first-degree graduates of the year 2014/2015 deriving from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data. Results show that while student characteristics like ability and social status are important predictors of Erasmus mobility, they only explain one part of unequal uptake. In addition, social segregation of universities and fields of study contribute to the unequal mobility pattern found. Student mobility is less common for students enrolled in fields of study and universities attended by disadvantaged students conditional on student characteristics. This implies that student mobility could become more inclusive if grant funding and incentives targeted universities attended by a high proportion of disadvantaged students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of IFLA Journal is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article discusses the effect of neoliberal trends in employment regulation during the 2008 recession. Liberalization in employment institutions is a long-term trend reinforced by the implementation of austerity policies. I use EU-SILC panel data to discuss these trends in Spain, Italy and the UK in three periods: before the crisis (2004–2007), during the crisis (2007–2010) and under austerity (2010–2013). Although liberalization reforms interacted with the existing institutional architectures, I find a common trend towards greater employer discretion. Crucially, this trend in institutional outcomes appears in countries with different formal institutional characteristics in employment and collective bargaining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using nationally representative workplace data for Britain, we identify where migrants work and examine the partial correlation between workplace wages and whether migrants are employed at a workplace. Three-in-ten workplaces with five or more employees employ migrant workers, with the probability rising substantially with workplace size. We find the bottom quartile of the log earnings distribution is 4–5% lower in workplaces employing migrants, ceteris paribus. However, the effect is confined to workplaces set up before the introduction of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) in the late 1990s, consistent with the proposition that minimum wage regulation limits employers' propensity to pay low wages in the presence of migrant workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents findings from a qualitative study on the subjective well-being of UK lone mothers, and explores how their sense of entitlement to leisure and leisure activities are shaped by their experiences of being benefit claimants. Twenty lone mothers with recent experience of living on social assistance benefits were interviewed. Their leisure activities were analysed in terms of purposive and enjoyment-oriented activities. The findings reveal purposive leisure was given higher value and a greater share of mothers' free time than enjoyment-oriented leisure. Purposive activities were justified as a meaningful use of leisure time which supported mothers moving off benefits and into paid work and enjoyment-oriented activities were often framed as a waste of time. The findings suggest that the socio-political discourse surrounding benefit claimants in the UK contributed to shaping the values mothers assigned to each activity type therefore illustrating social policy operating as an instrument of social control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines social security policy for working age people in Britain in the 'age of austerity'. Drawing upon critical approaches to understanding social policy and violence, the article argues that severe cuts to benefits and the ratcheting up of conditionality for, and the sanctioning of, benefit recipients can be understood as 'violent proletarianisation' – using socio-economic inequality and injustice to force the commodification of labour power, and a consequential creation of diswelfares that are known and avoidable. The article suggests that violent proletarianisation is a contradictory process, one that helps constitute the working class, but in a way that socially murders some of its reserve army members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article estimates the impact of immigration on local house prices under various local labour market structures in England and Wales. Typically, for the nation as a whole, newly arriving immigrants add to the overall housing demand; this would in general push up house prices when facing an upward-sloping supply curve. However, sorting and native-outmigration response to immigration may change the dynamics and impact at the 'local' level, depressing house prices through income change. We use data on England and Wales to investigate the local house price effect of immigration when taking into account the local labour market structure of the areas, particularly with respect to employment density and average socioeconomic profile (skill) of workers. We found that in high density of employment areas but with a majority of the occupations in low skill sets, there is a negative house price effect led by immigrant inflows, and this might be due to a type of tenure 'downgrade' in the area as immigrants increase the rate of free renting. Free renters are less likely to participate in the housing market themselves and an increase in the rate of this form of tenure could also reduce their mobility further, hence lead to lower levels of housing stock turnover and transaction-related renovation; as a result, both housing quality and house prices fall. The evidence is in addition to the native flight argument typically found in the literature to explain house price depreciation led by immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: There is evidence that young people are less satisfied with their lives when they are unemployed or working in precarious conditions. This study aims to shed light on how the life satisfaction of unemployed and precariously employed young people varies across welfare states with different labour market policies and levels of social protection. Methods: The analyses are based on representative cross-sectional survey data from five European countries (Denmark, the UK, Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic), corresponding to five different welfare state regimes. For economically active young adults (N =6681), the prevalence ratios of low life satisfaction were estimated through multivariate logistic regressions. Results: In all five countries, unemployed young adults presented a higher prevalence of low life satisfaction. When we compared employees with people with permanent and temporary contracts, the former were more satisfied with their lives only in Germany and the UK, examples of conservative and liberal welfare regimes, respectively. Experience of unemployment decreased young adults' life satisfaction only in Germany and the Czech Republic, examples of a conservative and an eastern European welfare regime, respectively. In almost all countries, young adults with low economic self-sufficiency presented a higher prevalence of low life satisfaction. Conclusions: There are nuanced patterns of employment type and life satisfaction across European states that hint at welfare state regimes as possible moderators in this relationship. The results suggest that the psychological burdens of unemployment or work uncertainty cannot be overlooked and should be addressed according to different types of social provisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much is hypothesised but little is known about the effects of early adversity on school experience, academic attainment and career aspiration for children and young people adopted from care. Drawing on data from Wave 1 of the Youth (10‒15 years old) Questionnaire (n = 4899) from the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Survey (UKHLS), also known as Understanding Society, this study explored differences between young people adopted (n = 22) and a matched comparison group (n = 110) on measures of educational and occupational aspirations and psychological well-being. Adopted young people reported higher externalising and total difficulties scores (based on the SDQ, Goodman, 1997) than the general population comparison group, but equivalent internalising symptoms. Adopted children were more likely to show an intention to seek full-time work at the end of compulsory schooling. These findings align with previous research regarding the psychological well-being of adopted children, contribute new knowledge about the aspirations of young people adopted from care and highlight methodological issues when utilising large-scale panel survey data for narrowly defined sub-groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores empirically the economic validity of the relatively limited approach to the regulation of employment protection pursued in the UK over the last three decades and within the European Union more recently. It does so by comparing the UK’s manufacturing labour productivity performance with those of three countries – France, Germany and Sweden – that possess more stringent employment protection laws. The findings reveal that while productivity growth in the UK was superior to France and Sweden, it was lower than in Germany. More generally, the study’s findings fail to support the existence of a straightforward negative relationship between regulatory stringency and productivity growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of the contemporary ‘living wage’ movement has been highlighted by the UK government’s decision to increase the statutory minimum wage for over-25s sharply, in the name of improving living standards. This breaks with neoliberal reluctance to intervene in labour markets, yet raises difficult issues centring around whether minimum hourly pay rates are suited to promoting adequate household incomes. At worst, ‘living wages’ could distract from other policies with this objective. This article acknowledges recent critiques of the living wage as an anti-poverty measure, but demonstrates that, in combination with other policies, wage floors can play a crucial role. It shows that low pay and inadequate working incomes overlap substantially. The article argues that governments promising that work will deliver adequate living standards need a clearer narrative in which pay, public transfers/subsidies and sufficient levels of employment combine to deliver minimum acceptable living standards for working families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on employers’ organizations in the United Kingdom, this article contributes to the literature on employer interest representation by advancing three interrelated arguments, which reflect how the methods, structure and interests of employer representation have evolved. First, the primary method of collective interest representation has shifted from collective bargaining, nowadays only pursued by a minority of employers’ organizations, to political representation, now the most frequent form of collective interest representation. Second, the structure of employer interest representation has evolved and is fragmented between a small number of large, general employers’ organizations, a large majority of sectoral employers’ organizations, regional interest representation in the devolved nations, which has become more important, and a new type of employer body, the employer forum, which focuses on corporate social responsibility. Third, the shift in collective interest representation is complemented by a broadening of individual interest representation, with employers’ organizations having developed a wide range of services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biopsychosocial model (BPS) of mental distress, originally conceived by American psychiatrist George Engel in the 1970s and commonly used in psychiatry and psychology, has been adapted by Gordon Waddell and Mansel Aylward to form the theoretical basis for current UK government thinking on disability. Most importantly, the Waddell and Aylward version of the BPS has played a key role as the government has sought to reform spending on out-of-work disability benefits. This article critiques Waddell and Aylward's model, examining its origins, its claims and the evidence it employs. We argue that its potential for genuine interdisciplinary cooperation and the holistic and humanistic benefits for disabled people as envisaged by Engel are not now, if they ever have been, fully realised. Any potential benefit it may have offered has been eclipsed by its role in Coalition/Conservative government social welfare policies that have blamed the victim and justified restriction of entitlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article examines the working lives of British couple families across the first decade of the millennium using EU Labour Force Survey data (2001–13) taking a multiple equilibria approach. Some growth in dual full-time earners, increased working hours of mothers in part-time employment and a growing proportion of households with ‘non-standard’ working patterns are all identified, suggesting both a convergence and greater diversity in economic provisioning within parent couple households. Household employment patterns remain strongly associated with maternal education and family size but are becoming less sensitive to the age of the youngest child. The dual full-time earner model is growing in significance for British parents of young children but a new gender egalitarian equilibrium has not yet been reached. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The twin thrusts of neoliberal paternalism have in recent decades become fused elements of diverse reform agendas across the advanced economies, yet neoliberalism and paternalism present radically divergent and even contradictory views of the subject across the four key spaces of ontology, teleology, deontology and ascetics. These internal fractures in the conceptual and resulting policy framework of neoliberal paternalism present considerable risks around unintended policy mismatch across these four spaces or, alternatively, offer significant flexibility for deliberate mismatch and ‘storying’ by policy makers. This article traces these tensions in the context of the UK Coalition government’s approach to the unemployed and outlines a current policy approach to employment activation that is filled with ambiguity, inconsistency and contradiction in its understanding of the subject, the ‘problem’ and the policy ‘solution’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on research conducted at General Motors UK and Poland, BMW-UK and VW-Motor Poland. The development of a range of managerial practices at the workplace, often described as lean production techniques, is discussed. The focus is on the impact of the latter on employees’ quality of work-life. While advocates of lean, so-called leanistas, argue that the ‘right’ management cadre will allow the positive effects of lean to prevail, evidence confirming this assumption remains limited. In contrast to ‘lean ideology’, findings here highlight the deleterious effects of systems so defined on the quality of life at work and to workers’ health beyond employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the impact of defamilisation and familisation measures for women with caring responsibilities and their implications for access to pensions in later life in Hong Kong and the UK in the context of pro-market pension reforms. The first part of the article discusses pro-market pension reforms and their effects on women, the second discusses the potential role of defamilisation and familisation measures in reducing the adverse effects of pro-market pension reforms, and the third focuses on pension policies and examples of defamilisation and familisation measures in Hong Kong and the UK. Finally, on the basis of the discussion of the link between defamilisation and familisation measures and pension measures for women, we assert that both Hong Kong and the UK still have much to do in developing multi-option measures throughout the life course, measures that could limit future inequalities in retirement between men and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing evidence of the problematic nature of the UK’s ‘flexible labour market’ with rising levels of in-work poverty and insecurity. Yet successive governments have stressed that paid work is the route to inclusion, focussing attention on the divide between employed and unemployed. Past efforts to measure social exclusion have tended to make the same distinction. The aim of this article is to apply Levitas et al.’s (2007) framework to assess levels of exclusionary employment, i.e. exclusion arising directly from an individual’s labour market situation. Using data from the Poverty and Social Exclusion UK survey, results show that one in three adults in paid work is in poverty, or in insecure or poor quality employment. One third of this group have not seen any progression in their labour market situation in the last five years. The policy focus needs to shift from ‘Broken Britain’ to Britain’s broken labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article sheds light on the role that the regulation of primarily domestic, rather than global, supply chains could play in protecting and enhancing standards of workplace health and safety, as well as employment standards more generally. The analysis presented confirms the potential relevance of such regulation in these regards. However, it also reinforces existing evidence pointing to the fact that only very rarely will market-related considerations on their own prompt purchasers to seek to directly influence the employment practices of their suppliers. The article ends therefore by highlighting a number of key issues relating to the design of regulatory initiatives aimed at protecting and enhancing employment conditions within supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]