A think-tank inquiry has been launched into alternative solutions to reduce in-work poverty.

The Smith Institute inquiry builds on an earlier project, which concluded that the most progress in tackling in-work poverty was made in the period of post-war consensus (1945–1979). This period combined:

• a government commitment to full employment
• a redistributive welfare state based on social insurance principles
• trade unions and other labour market institutions that promoted a more egalitarian distribution of market incomes and restrained excess at the top.

The latest inquiry will focus on the last of these factors, and how to improve the incomes of workers at the bottom of the income distribution. It will seek to develop an agenda for change that achieves higher productivity growth, more employment and fairer pay. Among other issues it will be looking at the role of trade unions, corporate governance and new forms of workplace democracy.

Source: David Coats, An Inquiry into Workplace Democracy, In-work Poverty and the New Economy: Consultation Document, Smith Institute

Links: Consultation document | Report of previous inquiry