This time of year offers opportunity to reflect on the past year and look forward to the next. Here, we re blog our Wage & Employment Dynamics (WED) project blog. The WED project take this opportunity to discuss and reflect upon their 2023 achievements and look at how these can be utilised and developed on 2024.
Originally posted by Anni Caden January 04 2024
As we step into the New Year, we take immense pride in reflecting on the milestones achieved within the Wage and Employment Dynamics (WED) project in 2023. This dynamic data linkage initiative has been the cornerstone of vital and compelling research, providing fresh perspectives on the intricacies of earnings and employment dynamics in Great Britain. Throughout the past year, the project has fuelled academic inquiry and driven the discovery of vital insights across diverse fields. From enlightening conferences to impactful publications, the WED project has enjoyed many successes this year. Join us in reflecting on some of the WED projects achievements from throughout 2023.
Research Publications
“When are wages cut? The roles of incomplete contracts and employee involvement“ suggests that managers avoid lowering nominal wages due to concerns about damaging morale and productivity; the research reveals that when employees feel involved in decision-making at work, they are less likely to retaliate against wage cuts
“The perils of pre-filling: lessons from the UK’s Annual Survey of Hours and Earning microdata” looks at the risk of error presented by the use of prefilled forms in ASHE.
“The extent of downward nominal wage rigidity: New evidence from payroll data“ emphasizes the crucial role of basic hourly pay in understanding wage rigidity, highlighting its infrequent adjustments, especially in small firms; findings suggest firms limit wage growth during low inflation
“Accounting for firms in gender-ethnicity wage gaps throughout the earnings distribution“ shows that firm-specific wage effects account for sizeable parts of the estimated differences between the wages of white and ethnic minority workers.
“How common in low pay in Britain and is it declining?” shows that incidences of minimum wage employment have been underestimated, and that incidences of low pay are falling faster than previously thought.
Presentations
Wage progression among minimum-wage workers in Britain, 2004-2021, at both the Low Pay Commission Research Workshop and the Roundtable on Minimum Wages at the WPEG Annual Conference
Accounting for employers in the distribution of gender-ethnicity wage gaps: An example of socio-economic research using ASHE-Census, ADR UK Roadshow
Turning data into research-ready data, ADR UK 2023 Conference
How common is low pay in Britain? New findings from linked data, ADR UK 2023 Conference
Research Ready Data
The WED team are proud to have released their ASHE-Census 2011 code files for open source use. This is an exciting development and the team look forward to seeing how valuable insights into earnings and employment dynamics in Great Britain are unlocked.
Check out this useful “Data Explained” document for more information on this valuable new dataset.
Training
An Introduction to the updated ASHE-Census dataset
Interviews
Talking Heads, a Reflection on the WED Project with Dr. Alex Bryson
Talking Heads, a Reflection on the WED Project with Lucy Stokes
PhD and Fellowship Projects
This year, the WED team supported the creation of 5 ADR UK funded PhD and fellowship projects using the WED project’s linked datasets, expanding their impact across diverse fields from green jobs to community care. You can read more about their research here:
Exploring the value of green jobs in England and Wales: Using the ASHE linked to 2011 Census dataset, Damian Whittard
Research Fellows using ADR England flagship datasets – ADR UK, Dr. Ezgi Kaya
Women’s pension entitlement in the UK, Yifan GE
Community Care Employment Journeys, Ramakrishnan Radhakrishnan
New Data Sources
In 2023 the team got access to 1% samples of de-identified HMRC PAYE and self-assessment records, corresponding to the ASHE population. These are valuable datasets in their own right, but will also significantly enhance analysis of ASHE data (and vice-versa). Much of the team’s data work this year has been taken up with understanding these large and complex sources, and wrestling them into research ready datasets. We expect provisional versions of these to be available in Spring 2024.
Growth and 2024
Looking towards 2024, the WED project is poised for a new phase of growth and innovation. In the coming year, the project will continue with its ambitious plans to further enrich these powerful datasets by establishing links with HMRC data. This linkage aims to expand the reach of the project and contribute to the creation of the ever richer ‘wage and employment spine’. The team will continue to support the ever expanding community of data users who continue to unlock valuable insights into the complex landscape of earnings and employment dynamics in Great Britain. We look forward to sharing our progress with you along the way.
For more information on any of the topics here or the work of the WED team, please go to their website or contact us through anni.caden@uwe.ac.uk.