Oxfam cares about work because it should provide a route out of poverty. Too often, it doesn’t.
In Scotland, around half of working age adults and two-thirds of children in poverty are living in working households. This "in-work poverty" is partly a result of low-pay but it is also due to a number of other factors including job insecurity and the lack of regular hours.
Our research – Decent Work for Scotland’s Low Paid workers: A Job to be Done – examined what low-paid workers prioritise as to work quality and how far the labour market delivers.
The report is the culmination of a 12-month study by Oxfam and the University of West of Scotland with the support of Warwick Institute for Employment Research. Crucially, it was research with low-paid workers. More than 1,500 people gave their views about what "decent work" means to them.
Participants prioritised 26 factors. Top of the list were: a decent hourly rate; job security; paid leave; a safe working environment; and a supportive line manager.
Is Scotland delivering this vision of decent work?
The experiences of participants, combined with an assessment of the labour market, indicate there is still a long way to go despite welcome momentum.
For example, not only are one in five employees paid less than the voluntary living wage, as defined by the Living Wage Foundation, but job security is also a growing concern with six per cent of all employees on temporary contracts.
One participant, Paisley, told us the hours he gets through agency work vary wildly from zero to 40 hours a week. This means that his income fluctuates wildly. He says he wants more hours but also feels that he can’t say "no" when asked to work in case the agency decides not to call him again.
A lack of decent work is having a detrimental impact on individuals’ lives. Poor quality and low-paid work not only undermines the physical and mental health for workers; it also makes efforts by policymakers to reduce poverty more difficult and has a negative impacts on the economy.
Yet research shows employers who invest in their workforce through increased pay and improved conditions can benefit significantly through, for example, increases in productivity and lower staff turnover.
Our report therefore makes a number of recommendations to the Scottish Government and employers. These include: giving the Fair Work Convention a specific role in investigating and improving employment conditions; ensuring public procurement is used to incentivise and reward good employment practices; and developing strategies to tackle low pay in sectors where it is endemic.
Given the large numbers of people in low-paid, precarious and insecure jobs, it is also clear that merely counting the number of people in work no longer adequately represents the labour market’s performance; we must monitor and increase the quality of work, too.
By working across Government, employers, trade unions and the third sector, we can make progress towards the delivery of decent work for all, as defined by those who need it most.
There is a significant job still to be done.
Francis Stuart is Research and Policy Adviser, Oxfam Scotland.
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