Blundell, Richard;
(2024)
Beyond tax credits and the minimum wage: the challenge of labour market inequality.
Fiscal Studies
10.1111/1475-5890.12361.
(In press).
Preview |
Text
Fiscal Studies - 2024 - Blundell - Beyond tax credits and the minimum wage the challenge of labour market inequality.pdf - Other Download (819kB) | Preview |
Abstract
Since the turn of the millennium, the UK has relied almost exclusively on two policies to address the adverse consequences of low pay and labour market inequality: in-work tax credits and the minimum wage. Successful as these policies have been at supporting family incomes and propping up hourly wages at the bottom, increasing numbers of less-educated workers find themselves in low-quality jobs with negligible wage growth, little training and poor career prospects. Work by itself is rarely a route to earnings progression. This paper looks at the motivation behind the expansion of in-work tax credits in the face of growing wage inequality and in-work poverty. It focuses on the impact on longer-term outcomes through human capital and skills. It argues for a balance of policies that goes beyond tax credits and the minimum wage to foster individual wage growth and improve opportunities for career progression for less-educated workers.
Type: | Article |
---|---|
Title: | Beyond tax credits and the minimum wage: the challenge of labour market inequality |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1111/1475-5890.12361 |
Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-5890.12361 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Fiscal Studies published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Institute for Fiscal Studies. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Good jobs; inequality; minimum wages; tax credits; welfare |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Economics |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10188058 |
Archive Staff Only
![]() |
View Item |