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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Programme examining the ideas and forces which shape public policy in Britain and abroad.

Programme examining the ideas and forces which shape public policy in Britain and abroad, presented by distinguished writers, journalists and academics.

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Analysis: The low pay puzzle

The low pay puzzle

BBC Radio 4 - Analysis, The low pay puzzle

Why, after 25 years of rising wages, do most workers feel worse off?

After 25 years of rising wages, why are many UK workers facing a fall in living standards?

From April, 2.7 million workers will get one of the biggest pay rises in UK history as the National Living Wage rises to £11.44 an hour. But will they feel better off?

It's 25 years since the National Minimum Wage was introduced. During that time it's credited with putting billions of extra pounds in the pockets of low-paid workers. But, despite that, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, two thirds of households living in poverty have at least one adult in work. And, according to the Institute for Fiscal studies, far from cutting the annual benefits bill, the cost of benefits paid to working families has ballooned since 1999 to about 50 billion pounds a year.
 
So what's behind this low pay puzzle? And what can employers, governments and workers do to ensure that work pays? Pauline Mason investigates.


Presenter: Pauline Mason
Producer: Ravi Naik 
Editor: Clare Fordham.

Contributors: 
Kate Bell, TUC Assistant General Secretary and former low pay commissioner
Damian Grimshaw, Professor of Employment Studies, Kings College London and London & South Forum Co-Lead at the Productivity Institute 
Patricia Findlay, Distinguished Professor of Work and Employment Relations, University of Strathclyde, and Director of the Scottish Centre for Employment Research
Matthew Fell, Low Pay Commissioner and Director of Competitiveness at BusinessLDN
Nye Cominetti, Principal Economist, the Resolution Foundation 
James Cockett, Labour Market Economist, CIPD
Margaret Esapa, Managing Director and owner, Cherry Care Services, Oxfordshire
Conor Taylor, Director, Foresso

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