EMPLOYMENT MARKET ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS RESEARCH SERIES NO. 56
英國留學生dissertationHow have employees fared?
Recent UK trends
EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS RESEARCH SERIES NO.56
How have employees fared?
Recent UK trends
GRANT FITZNER, EMPLOYMENT MARKET
ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH
Department of Trade and Industry 1 How have employees fared?
Published in March 2006 by the Department of Trade and Industry.
URN 06/924
ISBN 0 85605 376 7
© Crown Copyright 2005
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The views expressed in this report are the authors’ and do not necessarilyreflect those of the Department of Trade and Industry or the Government.Department of Trade and Industry 2 How have employees fared?ForewordThe Department of Trade and Industry’s aims to create the conditions forbusiness success, and help the UK respond to the challenge ofglobalisation. As part of that objective we want a dynamic labour marketthat provides full employment, adaptability and choice, underpinned bydecent minimum standards. DTI want to encourage high performanceworkplaces that add value, foster innovation and offer employees skilledand well-paid jobs.
We need to do more to encourage diversity in the workplace and givepeople choices over how they balance their work and family life. Weneed to further improve skills and training so that everyone has the
chance to make the most of their potential. And crucially, we need toensure that vulnerable workers are not mistreated, but get the rightsthey are entitled to.This report provides a brief overview of trends at work affectingemployees. As noted in the introduction, the paper is by no meanscomprehensive, and we recognise that a more fine-grained analysis ofthese employment trends is warranted.There is a need for more robust empirical research to be done around‘quality of work’ issues, such as vulnerable workers, unfair treatment atwork, and subjective well-being. To that end, job satisfaction and relatedmeasures will be the focus of a labour market research conferenceEMAR is hosting towards the end of 2006.
Additional copies of the report can be downloaded from the DTI website,
or ordered from Publications@DTI.
Anyone interested in receiving regular email updates on EMAR’sresearch programme, new publications and forthcoming seminarsshould send their details to us at: [email protected]#p#分頁標題#e#
Grant Fitzner
Director, Employment Market Analysis and Research
Department of Trade and Industry 3 How have employees fared?
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank all those who contributed to this paper – inparticular my statistical colleagues Heidi Grainger, Heather Holt andMartin Crowther, who provided most of the data in this report. WayneDiamond and Carmen Alpin also contributed data.Helpful comments were received from several DTI colleagues. NiklasPercival, Hugh Stickland and Bill Wells from the Department for Workand Pensions also provided comments and material.Thanks also to Geoffrey Norris for being the catalyst for this project.Department of Trade and Industry 4 How have employees fared?
Contents
Foreword....................................................................................... 3
Acknowledgements...................................................................... 4
Contents........................................................................................ 5
Executive summary...................................................................... 6
Introduction .................................................................................. 8
Earnings growth......................................................................... 10
Job polarisation.......................................................................... 14
Employment security................................................................. 17
Working time .............................................................................. 20
References .................................................................................. 23
Annex A: Major surveys ............................................................ 24
Employment Relations Research Series .................................. 25
Department of Trade and Industry 5 How have employees fared?
Executive summary
The United Kingdom’s labour market has performed well in recent years,compared to other countries and to its own history. The rise inemployment, combined with successful labour market policies, has ledto an overall fall of around 1 million in the number of workless peopleon benefits in the UK, benefiting disadvantaged groups.Earnings growth
In the past decade, UK employees have enjoyed strong real (inflationadjusted) wages growth of 2¾ per cent a year in the private sector.Public sector employees saw a slightly lower annual growth rate ofaround 2¼ to 2½ per cent in real earnings.Three trends have been evident. First, substantial real wage gains haveoccurred across all major industries. Second, female employees have
received higher pay rises than men. Finally, unqualified and lowlyqualified employees have won real wage increases at least equal tothose of more highly qualified employees.
Since the National Minimum Wage was introduced in 1998, low paidemployees have received the highest wage increases. The minimumwage has not only significantly reduced the incidence of low pay; ithasalso helped contain wage inequality.Job polarisationSince 1998, the share of low paid UK jobs has shrunk and the proportionof high paid jobs has increased. The proportion of jobs in the incomerange that comprised the lowest income decile in 1998 has fallen byalmost 22 per cent, while the share of jobs in the highest income decilehas increased by 7½ per cent. The proportion of jobs paying around#p#分頁標題#e#
median earnings has remained relatively unchanged, http://www.ttc-switch.com/dissertation_writing/contrary to thethesis of a ‘disappearing middle’.Not surprisingly, fast growing industries offer better pay than those indecline. The rates of employee pay in expanding industries, which aremostly service sector jobs, have on average paid 5 per cent above thenational average earnings. Employees in declining manufacturingindustries managed to retain and improve their above-average wagesdespite a 29 per cent fall in employment levels. The other 7½ millionemployees in declining non-manufacturing industries, by contrast, sawtheir relative hourly earnings deteriorate from 7 per cent to 13 per centbelow the national average.Department of Trade and Industry 6 How have employees fared?
Employment securityContrary to popular belief that employment security has declined, fewerUK employees are being made redundant and labour turnover has beenstable.
The overwhelming majority of employees leave their jobs voluntarily,and the share of employees losing their job due to redundancies hasfallen by almost a third to under 6 per cent per annum. Both the numberof employees starting a new job each year, and the proportion ofemployees who have held the same job for a year or more, haveremained fairly stable.
Working timeUK employees are increasingly able to choose the hours they prefer,whether they are part-time employees seeking full-time jobs, or full-timeemployees wanting to reduce their hours. Although part-time jobs haveremained stable in recent years at just over one-quarter of allemployment, the proportion of part-timers who said they could not finda full-time job has fallen from 14 per cent to less than 9 per cent since1995.
Average hours worked have dropped to 32 hours a week, the lowest onrecord. There has also been a downward trend in long hours working(over 48 hours). Since the Working Time Directive came into effect, theproportion of male full-time employees engaged in long hours workinghas fallen by one-fifth.Temporary employment (including fixed-term contracts and casualwork) in the UK peaked at 7½ per cent of employees in 1997 and hassince fallen to 5½ per cent, lower than levels in most other Europeancountries. The proportion of temporary employees who say they wantbut are unable to securepermanent work has fallen sharply, from over40 per cent to just a quarter in the past decade.Department of Trade and Industry 7 How have employees fared?
SECTION 1
Introduction
Caveats
A wide array of issues influence employees’ living standards, jobopportunities, and perceptions of well-being. This paper focuses onseveral key topics, but is by no means comprehensive. It forms part of a
wider, ongoing research programme.
We have published several DTI research reports on age, working timeand work-life balance issues. The Employment Rights at Work Survey(Casebourne, et al, 2006) reports on levels of employee knowledge andawareness of their rights, and the incidence and nature of employmentproblems. Our forthcoming Fair Treatment at Work Survey has, for thefirst time comprehensively mapped employees’ experience ofdiscrimination at work in Britain.The analysis of earnings growth and distribution that follows does notimply that no major wage inequities remain, nor that all employees have#p#分頁標題#e#
benefited from the UK’s labour market’s robust performance. Thegender wage gap, for example, though narrower now than it was adecade ago, persists – and is particularly wide for women in part-time
jobs.1 Likewise the average hourly earnings of many non-white ethnicminority employees are low compared to those of white Britishemployees. Most of the pay gap experienced by male ethnic minoritiesand immigrant ethnic minority women remain once age, region andeducation are accounted for (Wadsworth 2003).
The UK labour market
The UK labour market has performed well in recent years, compared toother countries and to its own history. Since 1997, the UK has seenrising employment and has broken its past record of boom and bust. Ithas coped better with the global economic slowdown than itscompetitors. During this period employment fell in the US, Germany andJapan. The UK now has one of the highest employment rates in itshistory, and also the best pattern of employment and unemploymentamong the major industrialised countries. In particular, for the first timein at least 50 years the UK employment rate is the highest among the G7countries, and there are very few countries in the world with higherrates.1 See Women and Work Commission (2006), and previous Women and Equality Unitresearch reports.Department of Trade and Industry 8 How have employees fared?
Figure 1:
UK employment and unemployment rates*
68%
69%
70%
71%
72%
73%
74%
75%
76%
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
0%
1%
2%
3%
4%
5%
6%
7%
8%
9%
10%
Employment rate (LHS) Unemployment rate (RHS)
Source: Labour Force Survey, National Statistics. * Centred three-month moving averageThe rise in employment, combined with successful labour marketpolicies, has led to an overall fall of around 1 million in the number ofworkless people on benefits in the UK. The biggest improvement hasbeen among the number of people claiming unemployment benefit,which has roughly halved since 1997. Since the start of 2001 it hasremained consistently below 1 million - the first time this has happenedsince 1975. The number of people on Incapacity Benefit has now beenfalling for more than a year, after decades of continuous increase. Thenumber of people on lone parent benefits has also fallen substantially.The strong labour market performance of recent years reflects aconscious effort to build macroeconomic stability, combined with a newapproach to welfare.The rise in employment has included people from disadvantagedgroups. Employment rates for disabled people, lone parents, ethnicminorities and older people have all increased over the past 10 years.For all of these groups, this rise has been greater than rise in the overallemployment rate.Department of Trade and Industry 9 How have employees fared?
SECTION 2
Earnings growth
Although extrinsic rewards such as pay and remuneration are not themost important factors for all employees, they generally expect a goodjob to offer a ‘fair day’s pay’. Earnings can be seen then as a necessary,but not sufficient, condition for high quality work. This section considersnot only whether earnings have improved, but also which employees#p#分頁標題#e#
have gained the highest pay increases.A hallmark of Britain’s robust labour market over the past decade hasbeen strong real wages growth. Two widely used measures of employeeearnings are theAverage Earnings Index and the Labour Force Survey’saverage hourly earnings. But these measures of nominal earnings don’ttake into account the effect of inflation on worker’s spending power. Wehave deflated both earnings measures by the Consumer Price Index toderive ‘real’ earnings series.
Figure 2:
Growth in average real earnings in the private sector*
95
100
105
110
115
120
125
130
135
Autumn
1995
Autumn
1996
Autumn
1997
Autumn
1998
Autumn
1999
Autumn
2000
Autumn
2001
Autumn
2002
Autumn
2003
Autumn
2004
Autumn
2005
95
100
105
110
115
120
125
130
135
Real gross average hourly earnings Real average earnings index, including bonusesSource: Labour Force Survey, Average Earnings Index and Consumer Price Index, National Statistics.
 Spring 1995 = 100. Gross average hourly earnings and the CPI are not seasonally adjusted.Figure 2 shows that both measures of real private sector earnings havegrown by about one-third since 1995. This is consistent with an averageannualised growth rate of 2¾ per cent in real private sector earnings – astrong rate of improvement in employee living standards. Public sectoremployees experienced a slightly lower annual growth rate of around2¼ to 2½ per cent in real earnings over the past decade.Department of Trade and Industry 10 How have employees fared?
Earnings growth by industry and genderOf course aggregate numbers may mask significant variation acrossindustries, occupations and gender. A consistent time series byoccupation is unavailable due to a change in occupational classificationsin 2000. But hourly earnings data for male and female employees byindustry certainly is. Figure 3 below shows how real average earningshave changed across major industry groups since 1995.
Figure 3:
Growth in real average hourly earnings of employees, 1995 to 2005
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Construction
Transport and communication
Agriculture and fishing
Public admin., education & health
Distribution, hotels & restaurants
Other services
Energy and water
Banking, finance& insurance etc
Manufacturing
Women
Men
Source: Labour Force Survey and Consumer Price Index, National Statistics. * Change in the gross average
hourly earnings of employees, deflated by the CPI All Items, from autumn 1995 to autumn 2005.
Two points are apparent. First, substantial real wage gains have
occurred across all major industries. Second, female employees have#p#分頁標題#e#
received higher pay rises than men. The average annualised real wage
gain was 2.3 per cent for men and 3.2 per cent for women since 1995.2
Women made larger average wage gains than men across six of the
nine major industry groups. The largest real wage gains for women
since 1995 occurred in manufacturing, the lowest in construction and
transport and communication. This faster pace of earnings growth for
women has helped to narrow the gender earnings pay gap – though as
the recent Women and Work Commission report makes clear, there is
still a considerable way to go.
Earnings growth by qualification
Another pertinent issue is how employees with different skill and
qualification levels have fared. The worklessness rate of those with no
2 Using the Retail Price Index as price deflator produces somewhat lower estimates of
real earnings growth than these estimates; but still shows real gains in all industries.
Department of Trade and Industry 11 How have employees fared?
qualifications has been markedly worse than other groups of employees.
How has this affected their relative wages?
The answer, perhaps surprisingly, is that it hasn’t. As Table 1 shows,
between 1996 and 2005, average hourly earnings of employees with no
qualifications remained unchanged at 65-66 per cent of the median for
all prime age employees. Likewise the relative hourly earnings of the
lowly qualified (‘other qualifications’) have also remained quite stable.
Table 1:
Average hourly earnings of prime age employees, by qualification,
relative to the median for all employees*
1996 1999 2001 2003 2005
Degree or higher 1.74 1.55 1.61 1.65 1.58
Higher education 1.31 1.30 1.25 1.21 1.20
GCE A level or equivalent 1.09 1.04 1.00 1.00 0.98
GCSE grades A*-C or
equivalent 0.86 0.85 0.85 0.83 0.81
Other qualification 0.78 0.76 0.77 0.75 0.76
No qualification 0.66 0.65 0.66 0.65 0.66
Source: Spring quarters Labour Force Survey, National Statistics.
Note: *Prime age employees defined as those aged 25-54
In other words, unqualified and lowly qualified employees have won real
wage increases at least equal to those of more highly qualified
employees. Their wages have moved up in line with the national
average, while more highly qualified employee categories have seen
some decline in relative earnings over this nine-year period.
Wage gains across the earnings distribution
Of course, it is possible that not all workers may have benefited from
these aggregate increases. Through most of the 1980s and early 1990s,
the wages of higher paid employees rose at a faster pace than did those
of lower and middle-income earners. Has this also been true over the
past decade or so?
Figure 4 below suggests not. It shows annual average growth in hourly#p#分頁標題#e#
earnings across the entire earnings spectrum, by percentile, from very
low paid to very high paid employees. Annualised rates of growth are
shown for two periods: the five years before the National Minimum
Wage was introduced (1992 to 1997) and the seven years since (1998 to
2005). The lower paid are those on the left, average income earners are
in the middle, and the higher paid on the right.
The figure shows that average earnings growth – in nominal terms – was
lower from 1992 to 1997 than it has been since 1998. For high-income
earners, rates of growth are broadly similar over both periods. But for
low income earners they are markedly different. During the first period
the low paid received below-average wage increases. Since 1998, the
have received higher increases in hourly pay than other employees.
Department of Trade and Industry 12 How have employees fared?
Figure 4:
Average annual growth in hourly earnings by income percentile*
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
1998 to 2005 1992 to 1997
Source: DTI analysis of Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), National Statistics.
* Annualised percentage change in nominal gross hourly earnings excluding overtime for UK employees.
It is likely that this dramatic shift in the pattern of wage increases to the
low paid reflects, in part, the impact of the National Minimum Wage –
ending the previous pattern of lower wage rises for the low paid. As
Lam, et al (2006) note, “the NMW does appear to be reducing inequality
at the bottom of the wage distribution” (see also Butcher 2005).
Figure 5:
Key earnings dispersion ratios, 1996 to 2005*
1.5
1.7
1.9
2.1
2.3
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
3.5
3.7
3.9
4.1
4.3
90/50 (LHS) 50/10 (LHS) 75/25 (LHS) 90/10 (RHS)
Source: DTI analysis of Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), National Statistics.
Looking at the four standard ratios of earnings dispersion, only one – the
90/50 ratio (90th percentile divided by the median) – has increased since
1997, and then only marginally. The 50/10 ratio has declined, reflecting a
modest compression of wage relativities amongst those below median
earnings. The minimum wage has not only significantly reduced the
incidence of low pay; it has helped to contain wage inequality.
Department of Trade and Industry 13 How have employees fared?
SECTION 3
Job polarisation
As manufacturing declines and the services sector grows, there has
been a long and extensive debate in the United States over whether
newly created jobs are ‘good’ or ‘bad’ jobs. The main point at issue has#p#分頁標題#e#
been whether those occupations and industries that are expanding offer
relatively well paying (‘good’) or badly paying (‘bad’) jobs.
The disappearing middle?
The general conclusion is that recent decades have seen a big increase
in the number of high-paid jobs in the US, but also an increase in the
number of low-paid service jobs. This is known as the ‘job polarisation’
thesis; sometimes it is referred to as ‘the disappearing middle’.
There have been few similar UK studies. Based on an analysis of New
Earnings Survey between 1976 and 1995, and the Labour Force Survey
from 1979 to 1999, Goos and Manning (2003) argued:
There has been a large rise in the number of well paid jobs
(MacJobs) in the UK over the past 25 years but also a rise in the
number of badly paid jobs (McJobs). ‘Middling’ jobs have been
disappearing. The most likely cause of these trends is
technology… The growing polarisation of jobs cannot be
explained by the changing structure of the labour force.
The authors found there had been large falls in the employment shares
of the sixth, seventh and eighth income decile between 1976 and 1995,
and a large increase in both the top and bottom deciles. However, their
analysis is not able to shed much little light on job trends since the mid-
1990s.
A relatively simple way of establishing if there is any basis to these
claims is to look at how the income deciles have changed over the years.
Our starting point was the 1998 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings
(ASHE). Employment was allocated into ten equal shares covering 10
per cent of employees each (‘income deciles’), and ranking them from
lowest paid to highest paid based on their gross hourly earnings.
Revisiting these points in the income distribution, relative to median
earnings, in 2005 shows large shifts in employment shares at the bottom
and top of the earnings distribution, but much smaller changes nearer
middle incomes.
Our analysis shows that since 1998, the share of low paid UK jobs has
shrunk and the proportion of high paid jobs has increased. . The
proportion of jobs paying around median earnings has remained
relatively unchanged, contrary to the thesis of a ‘disappearing middle’.
Department of Trade and Industry 14 How have employees fared?
Figure 6:
Percentage change in employment share by 1998 income decile*
-25%
-20%
-15%
-10%
-5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
-25%
-20%
-15%
-10%
-5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
Department of Trade and Industry 15 How have employees fared?
Source: DTI analysis of Annual Survey of Hours and Ea rnings, National Statistics. All employees, United#p#分頁標題#e#
Kingdom. * Total percentage change in the employment share of each income deciles between 1998 and
2005, by gross hourly earnings.
As Figure 6 shows, the biggest change in employment shares over the
seven years to 2005 was a shift in the proportion of jobs from the lowest
income decile (the lowest paid 10 per cent of employees) to the second
and third deciles, when compared with the lowest income decile in 1998.
The proportion of jobs in the lowest decile fell by almost 22 per cent
(-21.6 per cent) between 1998 and 2005, while the share of jobs in the
highest income decile increased by 7½ per cent. Changes in
employment shares around median earnings – the fifth and sixth deciles
– were small, and certainly do not lend much support to the
‘disappearing middle’ thesis.
Pay in expanding and contracting industries
Another popular claim is that expanding industries offer inferior pay and
conditions to those in declining industries. In large part, this is an
argument about manufacturing jobs (supposedly ‘good jobs’) versus
services sector jobs (‘bad jobs’).
Studies of earnings differentials find that rates of pay are highly
correlated with the level of skill required in the job. More highly paid
employees tend to have better working conditions than lower-paid
employees, with less physically demanding or noisy jobs and/or with
greater autonomy in their work schedules. This suggests that better
quality jobs can be proxied by those with higher pay.
Using the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings between 1998 and 2005,
we compared the hourly earnings paid by those industries that have
expanded against those that have contracted. Table 2 summarises the
results. It shows that of the total of 97 industries there were more
industries whose employment levels fell (56) than rose (41) between
Department of Trade and Industry 15 How have employees fared?
1998 and 2005. The number of employees in expanding industries grew
by almost one-third (+32 per cent) over that seven-year period, while in
declining industries total employment fell by almost one-quarter (-22 per
cent). As a result, the declining industries’ share of total employment fell
from 56 per cent to 43 per cent of all employees between 1998 and 2005.
Table 2:
Employment shares and relative earnings by industry, 1998 and 2005*
Share of total
employees
Hourly earnings relative
to the UK mean
Industry No. 1998 2005 1998 2005
Expanding industries 41 44.0% 57.1% +5.1% +5.3%
Health and education # 8 17.3% 24.8% +5.1% +8.5%
Other expanding
industries
33 26.6% 32.3% +5.2% +2.9%
Declining industries 56 56.0% 42.9% -4.0% -7.1%
Manufacturing 20 16.8% 11.8% +2.7% +8.4%
Other declining
industries#p#分頁標題#e#
36 39.2% 31.0% -6.9% -13.0%
Source: DTI analysis of Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, National Statistics
Notes: * Excludes Fishing industry, due to small sample size # SIC 80 and 85
What is of most interest, however, are the relative hourly wages paid to
employees over that seven-year period. In both 1998 and 2005,
employees working in expanding industries were paid around 5 per cent
above the average national wage.
In declining industries, by contrast, relative wages depended on which
industry employees worked in. Those in the 20 declining manufacturing
industries actually saw their relative earnings improve, from 2¾ per cent
above the average in 1998 to almost 8½ per cent above it in 2005. Over
the period these strong relative wage gains were being made, those
twenty industries experienced a 29 per cent fall in employment levels.
Employees in the other 36 declining employees, by contrast, received
wages almost 7 per cent below the national average in 1998. By 2005
relative earnings had deteriorated further, to being 13 per cent below the
average.
There is certainly nothing in these aggregate figures to suggest that
industries that are expanding and creating new jobs are paying belowaverage
wages. Quite the opposite.
Expanding industries were spread across a wider range of industries.
The eight health and education industries whose employment grew over
the period were the largest single group, accounting for 17 per cent of
employees in 1998 and almost one-quarter in 2005. Their relative wages
rose from being 5 per cent above average in 1998 to 8½ per cent higher
in 2005. No doubt this partly reflects the substantial real pay increases
that teachers, nurses and other public sector employees in these
industries have received. In the other 33 expanding industries, relative
wages were 5¼ per cent above the national average in 1998, falling to 3
per cent higher by 2005.
Department of Trade and Industry 16 How have employees fared?
SECTION 4
Employment security
The UK labour market is very dynamic, with around 5-6 million working
age people moving into a new job each year and a similar number
leaving. Employment change is the difference between these two large
numbers. For example, over the last year employment levels have risen
by nearly 200 thousand.
Employment change is largely determined by the rate at which people
leave jobs, as the number moving into a new job each year tends to be
relatively constant. Job separations are far more likely to be voluntary
than involuntary, except during recessions when involuntarily job losses
escalate.
Figure 7:
Percentage of employee job separations that are involuntary*
20%
22%
24%
26%
28%
30%
32%#p#分頁標題#e#
34%
36%
38%
40%
1995 199 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 200 2005
20%
22%
24%
26%
28%
30%
32%
34%
36%
38%
40%
Source: Labour Force Survey, National Statistics. * Quarterly and smoothed 4-quarter average
The overwhelming majority of job separations are voluntary, and the
proportion that is involuntary has fallen over the past decade. Using
ONS definitions, ‘involuntary’ job separations fell from 37 per cent in
1995 to around 28 per cent in 2005 (Figure 7). However even this number
is likely to be inflated, as the ONS definition counts both voluntary
redundancies and the end of temporary jobs as being ‘involuntary’
separations – a debateable categorisation.3
3 The ONS define involuntary job separations as those dismissed, those made
redundant or who took voluntary redundancy, and those whose temporary job
finished. It is unclear if the latter includes employees on fixed term contracts that have
expired. See Box 1 in Weir (2003); see also Heap (2005).
Department of Trade and Industry 17 How have employees fared?
Since 1997 the proportion and number of working age people who have
been continuously employed (not necessarily by the same firm) for the
whole year has been on the increase. Likewise the number of employees
who are in the same job as 12 months ago has risen since the mid-1990s
(see Figure 8). Job retention is highest in the public sector, as one might
expect. But even in the private sector, in 2004 around four-fifths of
employees were in the same job as 12 months ago.
Currently, over two-thirds of employees have been in their job
continuously for more than 24 months. Of job durations below 24
months, in 1997 the biggest proportion of people had been in their job
for less than three months. Since 2000, a larger proportion of people
worked for 3-6 months, suggesting that those who joined the
employment count have tended to stay.
Figure 8:
Proportion of UK employees in the same job as 12 months ago by sector
70%
72%
74%
76%
78%
80%
82%
84%
86%
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
70%
72%
74%
76%
78%
80%
82%
84%
86%
Private sector
Non-profit making organisations
Public sector
Source: Unpublished data from the New Earnings Survey Panel Dataset, National Statistics.
The 6¾ million people who move into a new job each year represent
over one-fifth of total employment. The proportions for most groups are
a similar order of magnitude. For example, the figures for ethnic
minorities, people with no qualifications and disabled people are around
25, 20 and 18 per cent respectively. This turnover rate indicates that#p#分頁標題#e#
there are significant opportunities for even disadvantaged groups to
move into work.
The Department for Work and Pensions has set itself the aspiration of an
80 per cent employment rate for the United Kingdom. Because of the
reduction in unemployment since 1997, the majority of people who are
still not in employment are those traditionally defined as being outside
the labour market. Many have more complex and difficult barriers to
overcome, but this does not mean that they do not want to or cannot
work. Indeed, given the right specialised and tailored support, many can
and want to return to employment and bring with them the substantial
skills and experience they have. Supporting these inactive people into
Department of Trade and Industry 18 How have employees fared?
work is crucial to our ability to achieve our aspiration of an 80 per cent
employment rate.
The turnover in the labour market also means that, except in recessions,
it is unlikely that the employment composition will change substantially
very quickly. Thus, the labour market in ten years time will, with a few
exceptions, look broadly similar to the current situation.
In summary, employment change is largely determined by the rate at
which people leave jobs. The overwhelming majority of job separations
are voluntary, and the proportion that is involuntary has fallen over the
past decade. The numbers moving into a new job each year tends to be
relatively constant, while the number of employees who are in the same
job as 12 months ago has risen since the mid-1990s – pointing to greater
job stability.
Figure 9:
Employee redundancy rates by gender, 1995 to 2005*
3%
4%
5%
6%
7%
8%
9%
10%
11%
May-95 May- May-97 May-98 May-99 May-00 May-01 May-02 May-03 May- May-05
3%
4%
5%
6%
7%
8%
9%
10%
11%
Men Women People
Source: Labour Force Survey, National Statistics *United Kingdom, Seasonally adjusted
A third key measurement is to look at those employees who lose their
job. Figure 9 shows that annual redundancy rates are not only low as a
percentage of all employees, they have been falling for the past few
years for both men and women.4 It is also worth noting that in recent
quarters the number of manufacturing employees made redundant has
been only around half that seen in the late 1990s.
The number of redundancies that occur each year is small compared to
the 6¾ million people who move into a new job each year. Many
employees who are made redundant find new employment quickly,
reflecting the quite dynamic nature of the UK labour market.
4 Browne (2005). Also http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/Product.asp?vlnk=9474
Department of Trade and Industry 19 How have employees fared?#p#分頁標題#e#
SECTION 5
Working time
One of the structural features of the UK labour market is the diversity of
types and patterns of work, created by the absence of overly restrictive
regulations in the terms and conditions of employment. This has
enabled workers and employers to choose the patterns of work that suit
them best.
This diversity is an important reason why many individuals, including
younger and older people as well as women, have high employment
rates; the greater choice allows more of them to combine work with their
other responsibilities.
Working time preferences
Part-time work remains popular, accounting for just over one-quarter of
all paid jobs. Though it has been suggested that many part-timers would
prefer to work full-time jobs, according to the Labour Force Survey only
8 per cent of part-timers say they are working full-time because they
could not find a full-time job; this is down from 13-14 per cent in the
mid-1990s (Figure 10). Almost three-quarters of part-time workers say
they do not want to work full-time, while around one-fifth are students.
Figure 10:
Employees who would like longer working hours*
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Full-time employees who would like to work longer hours
Part-time employees who could not find a full-time job
Source: Labour Force Survey, National Statistics. Question on full-timers is only available from 1996.
* Percentage of part-time employees who say they’re working part-time because they could not find a fulltime
job, and full-time employees of working age who would like to work longer hours.
Amongst full-time employees, 7 per cent say that they would like to
work longer hours. Again, this is well down from earlier levels.
There has been a gradual downward trend in working hours for a long
time, but this appears to have accelerated as a result of the Working
Department of Trade and Industry 20 How have employees fared?
Time Directive. Since its introduction the proportion of full-time
employees engaged in long hours working (over 48 hours) has fallen by
one-fifth. The fall has been particularly marked for male employers.5
The numbers of employees working the shortest (up to 15 hours a week)
and longest (over 45 hours) has reduced since 1997, with a rapid growth
in the number of people working 16-45 hours.
Figure 11:
Average actual weekly hours of work*
31.5
32.0
32.5
33.0
33.5
34.0
34.5
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
36.0
36.5
37.0
37.5
38.0
38.5
39.0
All employees (LHS) Full-time employees (RHS)
Source: Labour Force Survey, National Statistics *Usual weekly hours worked, UK workers in main job.#p#分頁標題#e#
The average working week across all types of occupations, full and parttime,
has dropped to 32 hours worked for all employees, the lowest on
record, compared with a peak of over 33½ hours in 1994. Men still work
a longer week than women, with an average of 39 hours compared with
33.6 for women.
Temporary employment
As with most other forms of work, there is a wide range of types of
temporary work in the UK, although in total around 5½ per cent of all
employees are in temporary work. Temporary employees (including
fixed-term contract work) account for a smaller share of total
employment in the UK than in many other European countries.
Elsewhere strict employment protection legislation channels people into
temporary work because employers wish to avoid the cost and
inconvenience of employing permanent staff.
As Figure 12 indicates, the proportion of employees in temporary jobs
peaked in 1997 and has fallen since. This decline is further evidence of
the long period of robust labour market performance.
Fixed contract is the most common type of temporary work – accounting
for almost half of all temporary jobs – followed by casual work and
agency temping. Employees in fixed contract jobs earn on average
5 See Grainger (forthcoming) for more details.
Department of Trade and Industry 21 How have employees fared?
Figure 12:
Temporary employment as a percentage of all employees
0%
1%
2%
3%
4%
5%
6%
7%
8%
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Fixed contract Agency temping Casual work Other temp contracts Seasonal work
Source: Labour Force Survey, National Statistics, spring quarters
about 4 per cent above the hourly pay rate for all employees. However
the picture in the case of other types of temporary work varies, with
most being paid below-average wages.
Figure 13 shows that the proportion of employees in temporary jobs
who said they could not find a permanent job has fallen from more than
two-fifths in the mid-1990s to one-quarter. According to other research,
52% of all temporary workers choose temping for positive reasons such
as increased flexibility, better pay or to gain valuable work experience
(REC 2005).
Figure 13:
Temporary employees who could not find a permanent job*
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Source: Labour Force Survey, National Statistics, spring quarters. *Percentage of temporary employees
who say they are working in a temporary job because they cannot find a permanent job#p#分頁標題#e#
Department of Trade and Industry 22 How have employees fared?
References
Browne, L. (2005) “Producing ONS redundancy statistics”, Labour
Market Trends, ONS, July.
Butcher, T. (2005) “The hourly earnings distribution before and after the
National Minimum Wage”, Labour Market Trends, ONS, October 2005.
Casebourne, J., et al (2006) Employment Rights at Work – Survey of
Employees 2005, Employment Relations Research Series No. 51,
Department of Trade and Industry, URN 06/837, London.
Goos, M. and Manning, A. (2003) ‘McJobs and MacJobs: the growing
polarisation of jobs in the UK’, Chapter 5 of Dickens, R., et al (eds.) The
Labour Market Under New Labour: The State of Working Britain,
Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2003, pp. 70-85.
Grainger, H. (forthcoming) Trends in long hours working, Department of
Trade and Industry, London.
Heap, D. (2005) “Job separations in the UK”, Labour Market Trends,
ONS, June 2005.
Kersley, B., et al (2005). Inside the Workplace: First Findings from the
2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey. Department of Trade
and Industry, URN 05/1057, London.
Kersley, B., et al (2006). Inside the Workplace: Findings from the 2004
Workplace Employment Relations Survey. Routledge, London.
Lam, K.J., et al (2006) ‘Do company wage policies persist in the face of
minimum wages?’, Labour Market Trends, ONS, March, pp. 69-82.
REC (2005) Workers want choice: The worker perspective on temporary
work, Recruitment & Employment Confederation, London.
Wadsworth, J. (2003) ‘The labour market performance of ethnic
minorities in the recovery’, Chapter 8 of Dickens, R., et al (eds.) The
Labour Market Under New Labour, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, pp.
116-133.
Weir, G. (2003) “Job separations”, Labour Market Trends, ONS, March.
Women and Work Commission (2006) Shaping a Fairer Future,
Department of Trade and Industry, London, URN 06/697. Available from:
http://www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk
Department of Trade and Industry 23 How have employees fared?
Annex A: Major surveys
Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE)
A survey of approximately 90,000 employers and 245,000 job positions,
conducted annually in April by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It
provides information about the levels, distribution and make-up of
earnings and hours worked for employees in all industries and
occupations.
The ASHE is a new survey, replacing the New Earnings Survey (NES)
from 2004. Changes made include improvements to employee coverage,
imputation for item non-response and the weighting of earnings
estimates.
ONS: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/Product.asp?vlnk=13101
Average Earnings Index (AEI)#p#分頁標題#e#
The Average Earnings Index is Great Britain's key indicator of how fast
earnings are growing. It is used to calculate annual rates of increase,
based on the average of the seasonally adjusted index values for the
latest three months compared with a year earlier.
Average earnings are obtained by dividing the total amount paid by the
total number of employees paid, including those employees on strike
and temporarily absent. The AEI is not designed to measure levels of
earnings - these are estimated by the Annual Survey of Hours and
Earnings and the Labour Force Survey. The AEI only covers earnings in
Great Britain, as earnings information is not collected for Northern
Ireland and regional data are not available.
ONS: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/tsdataset.asp?vlnk=392
Labour Force Survey (LFS)
A quarterly sample survey of households living at private addresses in
the United Kingdom, conducted by the ONS in Great Britain and the
Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland. It is a random
survey of approximately 57,000 households. As well as private
households, the survey includes people living in communal
establishments (student halls of residence, National Health Service
accommodation, etc).
The survey was conducted once every two years between 1973 and
1983, and annually from 1983 until 1991. It has been conducted quarterly
since 1992 for Great Britain, and since 1995 for the United Kingdom. The
LFS is a sample survey and consequently estimates are subject to both
sampling and non-sampling error.
ONS: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/Source.asp?vlnk=358
Department of Trade and Industry 24 How have employees fared?
Employment Relations
Research Series
Reports published to date in the DTI Employment Relations Research
Series are listed below. Adobe PDF copies can be downloaded from the
DTI website: www.dti.gov.uk/er/inform.htm or ordered at:
www.dti.gov.uk/publications
Click the ‘Browse’ button, then select ‘Employment Relations Research
Series’. Alternatively call the DTI Publications Orderline on 0845 015
0010 (+44 845 015 0010) and provide the URN. Or email them at:
[email protected] with your details.
Libraries, research centres, organisations and academics wishing to be
added to our mailing list for printed copies of this series should email
their details to DTI at: [email protected]
No. 1 Involving employees in Total Quality Management: employee
attitudes and organisational context in unionised environments.
Margaret Collinson, Chris Rees, Paul Edwards with Linda Inness. URN
98/507. June 1998
No. 2 Industrial Tribunals, workplace disciplinary procedures and
employment practice. Jill Earnshaw, John Goodman, Robin Harrison
and Mick Marchington. URN 98/564. February 1998#p#分頁標題#e#
No. 3 The dynamics of union membership in Britain – a study using the
Family and Working Lives survey. Richard Disney, Amanda Gosling,
Julian McCrae and Stephen Machin. URN 98/807. January 1999
No. 4 The individualisation of employment contracts in Britain. William
Brown, Simon Deakin, Maria Hudson, Cliff Pratten and Paul Ryan. URN
98/943. February 1999
No. 5 Redundancy consultation: a study of current practice and the
effects of the Regulations. Jill Smith, Paul Edwards and Mark Hall. URN
99/512. July 1999
No. 6 The employment status of individuals in non-standard
employment. Brendan Burchell, Simon Deakin and Sheila Honey. URN
99/770. July 1999
No. 7 Partnership at work. John Knell. URN 99/1078. September 1999
No. 8 Trends in earnings inequality and earnings mobility 1977-1997:
the impact of mobility on long-term inequality. Abigail McKnight. URN
00/534. February 2000
Department of Trade and Industry 25 How have employees fared?
No. 9 Costs and benefits of European Works Councils Directive. Tina
Weber, Peter Foster and Kursat Levent Egriboz. URN 00/630. February
2000
No. 10 Explaining the growth in the number of applications to
Industrial Tribunals, 1972-1997. Simon Burgess, Carol Propper and
Deborah Wilson. URN 00/624. April 2001
No. 11 Implementation of the Working Time Regulations. Fiona
Neathey and James Arrowsmith. URN 01/682. April 2001
No. 12 Collective bargaining and workplace performance: an
investigation using the Workplace Employee Relations Survey 1998.
Alex Bryson and David Wilkinson. URN 01/1224. November 2001
No. 13 Findings from the 1998 Survey of Employment Tribunal
Applications (Surveys of Applicants and Employers). URN 03/999.
February 2004
No. 14 Small firms' awareness and knowledge of individual
employment rights. Robert Blackburn and Mark Hart. URN 02/573.
August 2002
No. 15 Awareness, knowledge and exercise of individual
employment rights. Nigel Meager, Claire Tyers, Sarah Perryman, Jo
Rick and Rebecca Willison. URN 02/667. February 2002
No. 16 Working long hours: a review of the evidence. Volume 1 –
Main report. Volume 2 – Case studies (and appendices). J Kodz et al.
URN: 03/1228. November 2003
No. 17 Evaluation of the Partnership at Work Fund. Mike Terry and
Jill Smith. URN 03/512. May 2003
No. 18 Retirement ages in the UK: a review of the literature.
Pamela Meadows. URN 03/820. July 2003
No. 19 Implementation of the Working Time Regulations: follow-up
study. Fiona Neathey. URN03/970. July 2003
No. 20 The impact of employment legislation on small firms: a
case study analysis. Paul Edwards, Monder Ram and John Black. URN
03/1095. September 2003
No. 21 Employee voice and training at work: analysis of case
studies and WERS98. Helen Rainbird, Jim Sutherland, Paul Edwards,#p#分頁標題#e#
Lesley Holly and Ann Munro. URN 03/1063. September 2003
No. 22 The Second Work-Life Balance Study: Results from the
Employer Survey. Stephen Woodland, Nadine Simmonds, Marie
Thornby, Rory Fitzgerald and Alice McGee. URN 03/1252. October 2003
No. 23 The business context to long hours working. T, Hogarth,
W.W. Daniel, A.P.Dickerson, D. Campbell, M.Wintherbotham, D. Vivian.
URN 03/833. November 2003
Department of Trade and Industry 26 How have employees fared?
No. 24 Age matters: a review of the existing survey evidence. Dr.
Peter Urwin. URN 03/1623. February 2004
No. 25 How employers manage absence. Stephen Bevan, Sally
Dench, Heather Harper and Sue Hayday. URN 04/553. March 2004
No. 26 The content of new voluntary trade union recognition
agreements 1998-2002: Volume one – An analysis of new agreements
and case studies. Dr Sian Moore, Dr Sonia McKay and Helen Bewley.
URN 04/1084. August 2004
No. 27 The Second Work-Life Balance Study: Results from the
Employees’ Survey. Jane Stevens, Juliet Brown and Caroline Lee. URN
04/740. March 2004
No. 28 2003 Compendium of Regulatory Impact Assessments.
Employment Market Analysis and Research. URN 04/743. April 2004
No. 29 Trade union recognition: statutory unfair labour practice
regimes in the USA and Canada. John Godard. URN 04/855. March
2004
No. 30 Equal opportunities policies and practices at the workplace:
secondary analysis of WERS98. Tracy Anderson, Neil Millward and John
Forth. URN 04/836. June 2004
No. 31 A survey of workers’ experiences of the Working Time
Regulations. BMRB Social Research. URN 04/1165.
November 2004
No. 32 The evaluation of the Work-Life Balance Challenge Fund.
Adrian Nelson, Kathryn Nemec, Pernille Solvik and Chris Ramsden.
URN 04/1043. August 2004
No. 33 Findings from the Survey of Employment tribunal
Applications 2003. Bruce Hayward, Mark Peters, Nicola Rousseau and
Ken Seeds. URN 04/1071. August 2004
No. 34 Employment relations monitoring and evaluation plan 2004.
Employment Market Analysis and Research. URN 04/1256. September
2004
No. 35 Findings from the 1998 survey of representatives in
Employment Tribunal cases. P.L.Latreille, J.A. Latreille and K.G. Knight.
URN 04/1530. August 2004
No. 36 Employment attitudes: Main findings from the British Social
Attitudes Survey 2003. Harjinder Kaur. URN 04/1868. December 2004
No. 37 Job separations: A survey of workers who have recently left
any employer. Volume one – Main analysis report. Tania Corbin.
URN 04/1920. December 2004
No. 39 Results of the Second Flexible Working Employee Survey.
Heather Holt and Heidi Grainger. URN 05/606. April 2005
Department of Trade and Industry 27 How have employees fared?
No. 40 2002 Compendium of Regulatory Impact Assessments.#p#分頁標題#e#
Employment Market Analysis and Research. URN 05/582.
April 2005
No. 41 2004 Compendium of Regulatory Impact Assessments.
Employment Market Analysis and Research. URN 05/1018. April 2005
No. 42 The age dimension of employment practices: employer
case studies. Stephen McNair and Matt Flynn. URN 05/863.
June 2005
No. 43 The content of new voluntary trade union recognition
agreements 1998-2002. Volume two – Findings from the survey of
employers. Dr Sian Moore, Dr Sonia McKay and Helen Bewley. URN
05/1020. May 2005
No. 44 Employment Relations monitoring and evaluation plan
2005, Employment Market Analysis and Research. URN 05/1019.
July 2005
No. 46 People, Strategy ad Performance: Results from the Second
Work and Enterprise Business Survey. The Work Foundation. URN
05/1392. September 2005
No. 47 ‘Small, flexible and family friendly’ – work practices in
service sector businesses. Lynette Harris and Carley Foster.
URN 05/1491. October 2005
No. 留學生dissertation網49 Survey of employers’ policies, practices and preferences
relating to age. Hilary Metcalf and Pamela Meadows. URN 05/674.
April 2006
Department of Trade and Industry 28 How have employees fared?
First published March 2006.
Department of Trade and Industry. http://www.dti.gov.uk/
© Crown Copyright. URN 06/924
ISBN 0 85605 376 7