Good work

The minimum wage has more than halved the share of low paid workers across Britain over the past two decades. This is a huge success – but it is far from job done. While low-paid workers today earn more, they are too often trapped on short-hours, facing poor working conditions or lacking the advantages higher earners take for granted – from sick pay to control over when they work. Too many jobs are seen as low status, even when they are highly valued. Good work should be a core objective of a renewed economic strategy for the UK – but it will require a new policy agenda, going far beyond the minimum wage, to achieve it. This will bring trade-offs that need to be confronted not wished away: better jobs for some will mean higher prices for others.

How much higher can the minimum wage go? What are the top priorities for wider improvements in the quality of work? Who will win, and who will lose, from efforts to spread good work? And what wider changes might a radical strategy to improve the quality of lower paid work in Britain bring for our economy?

The Resolution Foundation is hosting an in-person and interactive webinar – as part of The Economy 2030 Inquiry, funded by the Nuffield Foundation – to debate and answer these questions. Following a presentation of the key highlights from Low Pay Britain 2023, we will hear from leading experts on the future of lower paid work.

The event will be open for people to physically attend, alongside being broadcast via YouTube and the Resolution Foundation website. Viewers will be able to submit questions to the panel before and during the event via Slido.