Using panel data on union locals in the United States we examine the dynamics of the union sector, investigating the impact of inter-union competition on locals' productivity and survival. We find low entry rates, high exit rates and high levels of productivity dispersion in the sector. The entry of new locals is not associated with productivity improvements among incumbents but has a small negative association with locals' survival rates. These findings indicate that inter-union competition is not effective in raising productivity and the effects of creative destruction are weak, with these processes likely insufficient to stem the sector's overall decline.

Using linked employer-employee data from the British Workplace Employment Relations Survey, we examine how much of the variation in job quality is accounted for by establishment-level variation and the relative importance of the establishment compared with occupation and employee characteristics. We do so for pay, six dimensions of non-pay job quality and overall job quality. We show that the establishment is the dominant explanatory factor for non-pay job quality and as important as occupation in accounting for pay. Where you work accounts for between 38% and 76% of the explained variance in job quality, depending on the dimension. We also find that establishments which are 'good' on one dimension of non-pay job quality are 'good' on others. When we relate the estimated establishment effects (after allowing for the effects of occupation and of employee characteristics) to observed establishment characteristics, we find that non-pay job quality is greater in small establishments.

In April 2016, the National Living Wage (NLW) raised the statutory wage floor for employees in the United Kingdom aged 25 and above by 50 pence per hour. This uprating was almost double any in the previous decade and expanded the share of jobs covered by the wage floor by around 50%. Using a difference-in-differences approach with linked employer-employee data from the UK's Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, we examine how the introduction and uprating of the NLW affected the likelihood of minimum-wage employees changing firms. We find some evidence that the NLW reduced the rate of job-to-job transitions among such workers, consistent with predictions that an increase in the wage floor discourages job search. However, we find no evidence that the NLW affected differences in job mobility between minimum wage workers and their co-workers in the same firm. Together, these findings suggest that the increased wage floor made quits less attractive to minimum-wage workers in firms with limited opportunities for progression.

Objectives We assess the extent to which the UK disability pay gap, the difference in hourly pay between disabled and non-disabled employees, is a consequence of the distribution of workers across firms (for example, if disabled employees are concentrated in low paying firms) and within-firm disability pay gaps, that is, among co-workers. Methods We apply regression analysis and Oaxaca-Blinder (Oaxaca, 1973, Blinder, 1973) decomposition methods to newly-linked data which matches high quality information from employer payroll records from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) to Census data on disability. We use these to explore the extent to which the raw disability pay gap and disability-related pay inequality, which exists after accounting for disability-related differences in personal and job-related characteristics, is a within or between firm phenomenon. Results Our findings indicate that the distribution of disabled and non-disabled employees across firms acts to reinforce the within-firm disability pay gap and disability-related pay inequality in England and Wales. However, both the disability pay gap and unexplained disability pay gap predominately exist within rather than between firms, consistent with significant pay inequality among co-workers. In other words, disabled workers are disadvantaged both from working in lower paying firms and from receiving lower pay than their non-disabled co-workers within the same firm, but differences between co-workers are the main contributor to the overall disability pay gap. Conclusions Evidence of within firm disability pay gaps and disability-related pay inequality, support the proposed introduction of employer disability pay gap reporting in the UK. We also show that the within-firm disability pay gap is larger among firms with more than 250 employees, which means the legislation would be targeted effectively.

The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) is based on an annual 1% sample of employee jobs and provides many of the UK's official earnings statistics. These statistics are produced using official weights designed to make the achieved sample in each year representative of the population of employee jobs in Britain by gender, age, occupation and region. However, we show that jobs in small, young, private-sector organisations remain significantly under-represented after applying these weights. To address this issue, we develop new weights and demonstrate their importance through policy-relevant examples. Our new estimates suggest that the bite of the National Living Wage is greater than previously reported, and the gender pay gap is wider. We conclude that a new official review of the methodology for ASHE is merited to improve the accuracy and reliability of data informing earnings analysis and research in the United Kingdom.

Ethnicity wage gaps in Great Britain are large and have persisted over time. Previous studies of these gaps have been almost exclusively confined to analyses of household data, so they could not account for the role played by individual employers, despite growing evidence of their wage-setting power. We study ethnicity wage gaps using high quality employer-employee payroll data on jobs, hours, and earnings, linked with the personal and family characteristics of workers from the national census for England and Wales. We show that firm-specific wage effects account for sizeable parts of the estimated differences between the wages of white and ethnic minority workers at the mean and other points in the wage distribution, which would otherwise mostly have been attributed to differences in individual worker attributes, such as education levels, occupations, and locations. Nevertheless, there are substantial gaps between the wage structures of white and ethnic minority employees which cannot be accounted for by who people work for or other attributes, especially among higher earners.

Building on existing studies of national employment systems, we undertake a comparative analysis of the micro-foundations of employment relations in Britain and France. Our analysis utilizes harmonized, linked employer-employee survey data for the two countries and takes a multi-dimensional approach in which the national level remains meaningful but within-country variance is also emphasized. Our analysis contrasts the British model characterized by variability and heterogeneity with a French model characterized by stability and uniformity. We discuss ways in which these systems are shaped by differences in employer and employee networks, the financial and organizational links between firms and macro-institutions.

We define worker representation, identify the factors that determine demand for it among workers and employers, discuss difficulties in supplying worker representation, and reflect on the implications of worker representation for worker welfare and the behavior and performance of employers.

Using linked employer-employee data for Britain, we examine ethnic wage differentials among full-time employees. We find substantial ethnic segregation across workplaces. However, this inter-workplace segregation does not contribute to the aggregate wage penalty in Britain. Instead, most of the ethnic wage gap exists within the workplace, between observationally-equivalent co-workers. Lower pay satisfaction and higher levels of skill mismatch among ethnic minority workers are consistent with discrimination in wage-setting on the part of employers. The presence of recognized trade unions and the use of job evaluation schemes within the workplace are associated with a smaller ethnic wage gap. These findings indicate that more attention should be placed on ensuring fairness in wage determination.

ObjectivesThe Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) is the main source of public statistics on low pay in Britain. As part of the ADR-funded Wage and Employment Dynamics Project, we identify and adjust for non-response biases in ASHE and generate new estimates of the incidence of low pay. MethodsWe linked the ASHE data to the Business Structure Database – a research-ready version of the UK’s official register of businesses. This linked dataset enabled us to identify which types of employers were more or less likely to respond to ASHE in a given year, and to generate non-response adjustments to the existing ASHE weights. We then used the unique personal identifier on ASHE to link observations across years. We compared rates and correlates of longitudinal attrition in ASHE with rates and correlates of employment exit observed in the ONS Annual Population Survey, generating longitudinal weights to account for non-random attrition. ResultsWe find that jobs in smaller organisations, younger organisations and those in the private sector are under-represented in the annual achieved samples from ASHE, relative to their prevalence in the wider economy. The percentage of jobs paid at or below the National Minimum Wage is under-estimated by around one fifth if one does not take account of these cross-sectional response biases. We find that longitudinal attrition is more likely to affect younger employees and those with low job tenure. However, we do not find that estimates of the rate at which employees move off the National Minimum Wage to higher rates of pay are biased by non-random patterns of longitudinal attrition. ConclusionData linking enables us to identify observable response biases in the UK’s official source of earnings statistics (ASHE). These biases affect our view of the bottom of the wage distribution, and have the potential to affect decisions around a key area of government labour market policy.

The role of the National Statistical Institution (NSI) is changing, with many now making microdata available to researchers through secure research environments This provides NSIs with an opportunity to benefit from the methodological input from researchers who challenge the data in new ways This article uses the United Kingdom’s Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) to illustrate the point We study whether the use of prefilled forms in ASHE may create inaccurate values in one of the key fields, workplace location, despite there being no direct evidence of it in the data supplied to researchers. We link surveys to examine the hypothesis that employees working for multi-site employers making an ASHE survey submission are more likely to have their work location incorrectly recorded as the respondent fails to correct the work location variable that has been pre-filled. In the short-term, suggestions are made to improve the quality of ASHE microdata, while longer-term we suggest that the burden of collecting additional data could be offset through greater use of electronic data capture. More generally, in a time when statistical budgets are under pressure, this study encourages NSIs to make greater use of the microdata research community to help inform statistical developments.

ObjectivesGovernments acquire extensive data holdings and face increasing pressure to make these available as record-level microdata for research. However, turning data into research-ready data (RRD) is not a straightforward exercise. We demonstrate how even in simple cases researcher involvement can bring substantial rewards for effective RRD development. MethodsThis paper reports on an ADRUK-funded project to take a dataset originally collected by the Office for National Statistics for official statistics (the UK Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, ASHE), formally review its microanalytical characteristics, link it to Census 2011 data, and prepare a new ‘research ready dataset’ with appropriate documentation and coding. This should have been straightforward as the datasets had already been widely used as research microdata. However, the involvement of academic researchers in the production of research-ready data led to many important new insights. ResultsThe research programme had 3 aims: testing assumptions about the data; reviewing data quality; and adding value. Because of its sampling model, ASHE is assumed to have random non-response both longitudinally and in cross section. The research team showed that was untrue: there was higher attrition than expected, and both longitudinal and cross-sectional non-response appeared non-random.. The data quality review showed further concerns about the accuracy of some geographical indicators, and some variables of opaque provenance; in contrast, we confirmed the accuracy of administrative variables created by ONS. As well as being important for researchers, these findings have the potential for significant effects on official statistics produced from the source data, enhancing the value of the source data. Finally, value was added from new variables which reflected the team’s wide research interests ConclusionOften in government the assumption is that creating RRDs is a matter of creatign files and giving access to the researchers. Insights from our work show that the deep involvement of the research community can bring rewards for both data holders and researchers. For RRDs, researcher-led construction is vital.

Using linked employer-employee data for Britain, we find a robust association between the share of female managers in the workplace and the size of the gender wage gap. In workplace fixed-effects estimates, the gap is eradicated when more than 60% of workplace managers are women, a scenario that obtains in around one fifth of all workplaces. The association between the share of female managers and the gender wage gap is more pronounced when workplace managers set pay at the workplace, and where employees are paid for performance. These findings are consistent with the proposition that women are more likely to be paid equitably when managers have discretion in the way they set pay or reward performance and those managers are women. They suggest that a stronger presence of women in managerial positions can help tackle the gender wage gap.

This paper provides an overview of theory and empirical evidence on earnings discrimination within the workplace. Earnings discrimination occurs when employees producing work of equal value are differentially remunerated because of their social group. The paper reviews theories of why employers may discriminate in this way. The paper then goes on to review research evidence on earnings discrimination as one source of earnings inequality within the workplace. The ability of empirical studies to identify discrimination is discussed, and evidence on the mechanisms through which discrimination may affect earnings is reviewed, covering observational and experimental studies. The research evidence is most plentiful in respect of discrimination by gender. Accordingly, much of the discussion focuses on the role of discrimination in driving a wedge between the wages of men and women. However, the paper also reviews evidence on earnings discrimination by race or ethnic group. It concludes with a discussion of policy responses.

Using a panel of workplaces in Britain, we investigate the implications for businesses of employing older workers. Workplace labor productivity falls where the proportion of older or younger workers rises. These raw associations are attenuated somewhat after controlling for aspects of human capital. In contrast, there is no significant association between age shares and workplace financial performance, suggesting that any reluctance by employers to employ greater numbers of older workers may be misplaced.