WORK AND EMPLOYMENT RESEARCH UNIT SEMINAR SERIES
WEDNESDAY 18 MARCH 13:00-16:00 ROOM 102 HAMILTON HOUSE, GREENWICH
MINIMUM WAGES: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
This Work and Employment Research Unit (WERU) symposium considers developments and outcomes of minimum wage policy in a range of countries. Our speakers include three experts on minimum wages who will in turn consider the UK experience, the USA and other European countries – Tim Butcher from the UK Low Pay Commission, Professor Dale Bellman from Michigan State University and Professor Damian Grimshaw from the University of Manchester.
Tim Butcher (Low Pay Commission)
Tim’s presentation will explore the impact of the National Minimum Wage to date. Introduced in 1999, the NMW is now part of the labour market context in the UK. The talk will cover the first three phases of NMW upratings - a cautious introduction, above average-earnings growth increases, and maintaining its relative value - before discussing whether we have now entered a fourth phase - a move towards the restoration of its real value back to its previous peak (in 2007/2009). The presentation will focus on the impact of the NMW on earnings and employment but will also cover its impact on businesses. The recent increase of 3% announced on 23 February will be put in context and the presentation will conclude with a look forward by discussing the future path of the NMW.
Tim Butcher is Chief Economist and Deputy Secretary at the Low Pay Commission (LPC), an independent public body that makes recommendations about the National Minimum Wage to the UK Government. He advises on economic and statistical issues and leads the team that conducts in-house analysis of the impact of the minimum wage and is responsible for a programme of externally commissioned research. Tim began his civil service career in 2001 at the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) working on employment relations issues in 2001. He then moved to Regional Policy before joining the LPC. He is a member of the Government Economic Service and became a Policy Fellow at the German Institute for the Study of Labour, Institut zur Zukunft der Arbeit (IZA), in 2009. Prior to joining the Civil Service, Tim was an academic at Queen Mary and Westfield, University of London; Royal Holloway, University of London; and the University of Essex, working on a range of labour economics issues. Throughout his career, he has published a number of academic and policy papers on these topics, and has been a major contributor to the annual Low Pay Commission report since 2003.
Professor Dale Belman (Michigan State University and Visiting Professor at the University of Greenwich)
Professor Belman, author of a recent review of empirical research on the minimum wage since 2000, will discuss his current research on the effectof the minimum wage on poverty and family income in the United States as well as a new meta-analysis of the employment effects of the minimum wage in the U.S. He will also discuss some issues with empirical methodologiesused to understand the minimum wage and open issues in empirical research.
Dale Belman is a professor in the School of Human Resources & LaborRelations at Michigan State University and conducts research on unions and labor market regulation. What Does the Minimum Wage Do?, published by the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in 2014, reviews the last decade of research on the effect of the minimum wage on employment, hours, earnings and other outcomes. Belman has also written about the construction industry,truckers and trucking, public-sector employment, minimum-wage and low-wagework. He received his master's and doctoral degrees at the University of
Wisconsin, Madison, and his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College. He is president of the Institute for Construction Economics Research.
Professor Damian Grimshaw (University of Manchester)
Professor Grimshaw will speak about “Minimum wage trends in Europe during the crisis: the problem of stronger 'minimum wage contours' and weaker unions”. Consideration of trends in real average wages and the wider industrial relations context is essential for understanding the distributive effects of minimum wages on the wage structure during the economic crisis. Raising the relative value of the minimum wage during a period when average wages are falling in real terms may meet the policy goal of lifting the wage floor and preventing exploitative wages but may weaken the wage bargaining position of workers and unions seeking more extensive wage rises. Much depends on the coordination of minimum wage policy with collective bargaining. In countries where unions have retained an active role in minimum wage policy and collective bargaining coverage is relatively strong, it is likely that minimum wage rises can be complemented by an appropriate defence of pay differentials (by age, experience, qualification, skill) to maximise positive ripple effects for workers paid above the minimum wage. However, in countries where there is a disconnect between unions' pay strategy and minimum wage policy and/or there is weak coverage of collective bargaining, then falling average wages are likely to generate a significant spike in the wage distribution at the minimum wage as employers compensate the rising cost of the wage floor with real wage cuts in jobs traditionally paid above the minimum. This paper investigates these issues by drawing on an analysis of European minimum wage policy trends and wage distribution data. It argues for the need to better understand the institutional intersections between minimum wage policy and other wage-setting institutions, especially collective bargaining.
Damian Grimshaw is Professor of Employment Studies and Director of the European Work and Employment Research Centre (EWERC) at the Manchester Business School, University of Manchester. Current projects are funded by the ILO (Prospects for middle-income workers) and the European Commission (Reducing precarious work in Europe through social dialogue). Recent publications include an edited book Minimum Wages, Pay Equity and Comparative Industrial Relations (Routledge, 2013), a report for the EHRC Coming Clean: Procurement and Contract Practices in Commercial Cleaning and Grimshaw (2014) and an article in the Journal of Industrial Relations 'Does better quality contracting improve pay and HR practices? Evidence from for-profit and voluntary sector providers of adult care services in England' (with Rubery and Ugarte, 2015).
This is a public lecture and all are invited but please can you inform us if you are planning to attend from outside the University of Greenwich by contacting myself, Professor Geoff White, on [log in to unmask]
We attach full details of how to find the venue for this symposium below.
HOW TO FIND US
Hamilton House, 15 Park Vista, Greenwich, London SE10 9LZ
Telephone: +44 20 8331 9083 E-mail: [log in to unmask]
DIRECTIONS
By road
Westbound, from the M25
At Junction 2 take the A2 towards London.
Continue on the A2 for approximately 15 miles.
Continue on to the A102.
From east London
Head east on the A12.
Via the southbound Blackwall Tunnel, join the A102.
From the A102
Exit the A102 via the slip road for the A206.
Follow the signs for Greenwich.
Continue along the A206 for approximately one mile.
Shortly after the BP garage on your right, turn left at the traffic lights on to Park Row.
Follow the road around to the left on to Park Vista.
After approximately 150m, Hamilton House is on your left.
Parking
There is no parking at Hamilton House, but there is a public car park on Park Row opposite the Old Royal Naval College. There are other car parks in the town centre.
By train
Southeastern provides direct services from London Charing Cross, Cannon Street, Waterloo East and London Bridge to Maze Hill, a few minutes’ walk from Hamilton House. Leave the station by the ticket office and walk up to Maze Hill.
Turn left on to Maze Hill and then immediately right on to Park Vista.
After approximately 150m, Hamilton House is on your right.
For train timetable information and a route map, visit www.southeasternrailway.co.uk.
By tube
There are no underground stations within walking distance, so you will need to transfer to further public transport. We recommend that you get off at Canary Wharf (Jubilee Line) and take a Lewisham-bound DLR train to Cutty Sark (see below).
Alternatively, get off at North Greenwich (Jubilee Line) and take a 188 bus to Greenwich (see below).
By Docklands Light Railway (DLR)
Cutty Sark station is a 15-minute walk from Hamilton House. Direct services run from Bank, Canary Wharf, Lewisham and Stratford. Easy connections are available from Tower Gateway, Beckton and London City Airport.
On exiting Cutty Sark station, turn left and walk past an arcade of shops. Exit the arcade on Greenwich Church Street.
Cross directly on to College Approach. Walk down College Approach and enter the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College through the West Gate.
Walk through the grounds, passing the university’s buildings, the Painted Hall and the Chapel.
Exit through the East Gate and turn right on to Park Row.
Walk down Park Row, crossing the main road at the traffic lights. Continue down Park Row, with the National Maritime Museum on your right.
Follow the road round to the left on to Park Vista. After approximately 150m, Hamilton House is on your left.
By bus
Greenwich benefits from regular bus services. The following routes stop on Romney Road: 129, 177, 180, 188, 286 (also a direct route to our Avery Hill Campus), 386.
Alight in Romney Road. The closest stop to Hamilton House is for the Trafalgar Estate (there is also a stop for the National Maritime Museum).
If alighting for the Trafalgar Estate, turn so the Old Royal Naval College is on your right and the National Maritime Museum is on your left.
Ahead of you are set of traffic lights marking a crossroads with Park Row.
Turn left into Park Row. Continue down Park Row, with the National Maritime Museum on your right.
Follow the road round to the left on to Park Vista. After approximately 150m, Hamilton House is on your left.
Professor Geoffrey K.White, Chartered Fellow CIPD
Department of Human Resources and Organisational Behaviour
Faculty of Business
University of Greenwich
Old Royal Naval College
Park Row
London
SE10 9LS
020 8331 9000
Email [log in to unmask]
University of Greenwich, a charity and company limited by guarantee,
registered in England (reg. no. 986729). Registered office:
Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, Greenwich, London SE10 9LS.
|
