Whither Poverty in Great Britain and the United States? The Determinants of Changing Poverty and Whether Work Will Work

We provide a comparison of poverty levels in Britain and the US based on a set of common definitions. We then ask what factors û demographic, economic, or policy û account for the observed changes in poverty in the two nations and what role could policy play in reducing poverty? We find that the forces influencing poverty differ between nations and across absolute and relative poverty measures. Demographic and wage change is a dominant force in both nations. Government benefits reduced relative and absolute poverty considerably in Britain over this period but had little impact in the US. However, policy changes may have significantly increased work in the US, particularly among single parents, whereas in Britain they may have had the reverse effect. The UK government has committed itself to reducing child poverty by half over the next 10 years and to its abolition within 20 years. We conclude that any purely work-based strategy, which doesn't tackle demographics and wage dispersion, may not have a dramatic effect on relative poverty.

The UK Minimum Wage at Age 22: A Regression Discontinuity Approach

A regression discontinuity approach is used to analyse the effect of the legislated increase in the UK National Minimum Wage (NMW) that occurs at age 22 on various labour market outcomes. Using data from the Labour Force Survey we find a 2- 4% point increase in the employment rate of low skilled individuals. Unemployment declines among men and inactivity among women. We find no such effect before the NMW was introduced and no robust impacts at age 21 or 23 years. Our results are robust to a range of specification tests.Minimum Wage Legislation, Low Wage

The impact on employment of the age related increases in the National Minimum Wage

In this paper we use a regression discontinuity approach to analyse the effect of the legislated increase in the UK National Minimum Wage (NMW) at age 22 on various labour market outcomes. Using data from the Labour Force Survey we find a statistically significant 5% point increase in the employment rate of the low skilled at age 22 years. This is almost wholly explained by a decline in unemployment among men and inactivity among women. We find no effect before the NMW was introduced and no effect at age 21 or 23 years. Our results are robust to a range of specification and tests

Re-examining the Impact of the National Minimum Wage on Earnings, Employment and Hours: The Importance of Recession and Firm Size

Research to date suggests that the UK National Minimum Wage (NMW) has raised the earnings of low paid workers, without significantly affecting their employment opportunities. We re-examine existing evidence and suggest the picture is less clear cut. We explore whether the impacts of the NMW differ for workers in different size firms. Examining more recent data we investigate whether the NMW has affected the employment opportunities of low paid workers during the recession. In contrast to previous research we find some evidence to suggest that the introduction of the NMW may have had a small adverse impact on the employment opportunities of particular low paid workers, although, in line with previous research, for many low paid workers we find no impact. In general, it is not obvious that the impacts of the NMW on employment have differed over the business cycle. In comparison to other workers, low paid workers are more likely to work in smaller firms. We find that on average any potentially harmful effects of the NMW on the employment chances of low paid workers tend to be more significant amongst employees in large firms. Identification of the average hours effects of the NMW is hampered by the difficulty in finding a suitable control group

The employment and hours of work effects of the changing National Minimum Wage

This report is about the employment impacts of National Minimum Wage (NMW) rises in the period 2001-2006. This was a period where the NMW rose substantially in excess of average earnings. The report presents results based on analysis of individual Labour Force Survey (LFS) data and Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) data together with local area analysis. The focus of the analysis is threefold. First, it investigates changes in wages as a response to increases in the NMW. Second, it analyses employment to see if changes in the NMW influenced individual job retention and job exit, job entry, local area employment and unemployment rates. Third, it focusses on analysis of hours worked to see if employers changed hours worked as a response to changes in the NMW

Extractable nitrogen and microbial community structure respond to grassland restoration regardless of historical context and soil composition.

Grasslands have a long history of invasion by exotic annuals, which may alter microbial communities and nutrient cycling through changes in litter quality and biomass turnover rates. We compared plant community composition, soil chemical and microbial community composition, potential soil respiration and nitrogen (N) turnover rates between invaded and restored plots in inland and coastal grasslands. Restoration increased microbial biomass and fungal : bacterial (F : B) ratios, but sampling season had a greater influence on the F : B ratio than did restoration. Microbial community composition assessed by phospholipid fatty acid was altered by restoration, but also varied by season and by site. Total soil carbon (C) and N and potential soil respiration did not differ between treatments, but N mineralization decreased while extractable nitrate and nitrification and N immobilization rate increased in restored compared with unrestored sites. The differences in soil chemistry and microbial community composition between unrestored and restored sites indicate that these soils are responsive, and therefore not resistant to feedbacks caused by changes in vegetation type. The resilience, or recovery, of these soils is difficult to assess in the absence of uninvaded control grasslands. However, the rapid changes in microbial and N cycling characteristics following removal of invasives in both grassland sites suggest that the soils are resilient to invasion. The lack of change in total C and N pools may provide a buffer that promotes resilience of labile pools and microbial community structure