Activating employers: the politics of regulation in the UK, the US and Australia

在当代劳动力市场，高增长、低工资的服务行业缺乏好工作，这已被政策制定者和学者以及工会和商界领袖视为一个反复出现的问题，特别是在英国、美国和澳大利亚等英美国家。在英国，鲍里斯·约翰逊(Boris Johnson)政府鼓励雇主对工人进行投资，并向他们支付体面的工资。在美国，乔·拜登总统的竞选承诺是在经济的各个领域创造、恢复和维持“中产阶级、工会工作岗位”，特别是在社会福利领域。在澳大利亚，尽管斯科特·莫里森领导的自由党政府正在推行放松劳工标准的放松管制议程，但维多利亚州和新南威尔士州等个别州却推行社会采购政策，以支持服务业和建筑业创造良好的就业机会。该项目试图解决以下问题：决策者是否继续让求职者和福利申索者承担填补低薪服务部门劳动力市场短缺的责任，或者相反，他们是否向雇主施加压力，要求其提高就业质量？我们的出发点是，雇主激活的新政治与激活求职者的“旧”政治相冲突。这些相互冲突的政策议程和优先事项导致这三个国家的国家和国家以下各级政府的几个180度大转弯和相互矛盾的声明。这项研究调查了不同政府层面是如何解决这种紧张局势的。它考察了英国、美国和澳大利亚发展良好就业和需求侧政策的指导原则、基本战略和机制。具体地说，它将问：正在采取哪些激励措施(胡萝卜)和制裁措施(大棒)来鼓励雇主在高增长、低收入的服务部门实施包容性人力资源管理做法？雇主对使用社会采购来提高工作质量有何看法？该项目将提供以下产出：1.通过制作证据和差距图，巩固英国、美国和澳大利亚关于好工作和工作优先议程的知识库。对英国、美国和澳大利亚的采购合同和社区福利协议的使用情况进行系统评估3.通过与相关利益相关者(政策制定者、从业者和项目管理者)的对话，对就业和福利工作计划正在进行的监管改革进行深入细致的分析4.评估是否正在利用后Covid 19时代的劳动力短缺来推动商业模式的改变，以提高就业的可持续性，或者政策制定者是否仍坚持工作优先的议程这项研究将在24个月内进行，分为三个阶段：首先，对所有三个国家的监管举措和项目干预的证据进行系统评估；第二，对政策制定者和利益攸关方进行一系列试点访谈，了解他们认为什么是有效的，为谁服务，在什么情况下工作；第三，在选定的地方进行一系列案例研究。该项目将使政策制定者、劳动力市场中介机构、雇主和找工作的人受益。这项研究是对现有和以前的ESRC投资的补充和补充，因为它具有很强的可比性，侧重于监管工具和立法，并分析了公共当局制定标准的活动。这些都是新的研究领域，将加强在就业和福利政策领域向美国/澳大利亚学习政策。

The lack of good jobs in high growth, low pay service sectors in contemporary labour markets has been identified as a recurrent problem by policy makers and academics, as well as trade union and business leaders, especially in Anglo-American countries like the UK, the US and Australia. In the UK, the government of Boris Johnson has encouraged employers to invest in workers and pay them a decent salary. In the US, President Joe Biden has campaigned on the promise to create, restore and sustain 'middle class, unionised jobs' in various sectors of the economy, particularly in social care. In Australia, whilst the Liberal government of Scott Morrison is pursuing a deregulatory agenda that relaxes labour standards, individual states such as Victoria and New South Wales have pursued social procurement policies to support good jobs creation in the service and construction sector. This project seeks to address the following question: do policymakers continue to put the onus on jobseekers and benefit claimants to fill labour market shortages in low-paid service sectors, or, on the contrary, do they put pressure on employers to improve the quality of employment? Our starting point is that the new politics of employers' activation clashes with the 'old' politics of activating jobseekers. These conflicting policy agendas and priorities lead to several U-turns and contradictory statements at various levels of national and subnational government in all three countries. The research investigates how this tension is being addressed at different government levels. It examines what the guiding principles, underlying strategies and mechanisms are for the development of good jobs and demand side policies in the UK, the US and Australia. Specifically, it will ask:What are the incentives (carrots) and sanctions (sticks) that are being deployed to encourage employers to implement inclusive HRM practices in high growth low-paid service sectors? What are the views of employers on the use of social procurement to improve the quality of jobs?The project will deliver the following outputs:1. Consolidate the knowledge base on good jobs vs work-first agendas in the UK, the US and Australia through the production of an evidence and gap map2. Produce a systematic review on the use of procurement contracts and community benefit agreements in the UK, the US and Australia 3. Obtain an in depth, granular analysis of ongoing regulatory reforms in employment and welfare to work programmes through a dialogue with relevant stakeholders (policymakers, practitioners and programme administrators)4. Assess whether labour shortages post-Covid 19 are being leveraged to foster changes in business models to increase the sustainability of employment or whether policymakers are still wedded to a work-first agenda The research will take place over a 24 month period and will comprise three stages: first, a systematic review of evidence regarding regulatory initiatives and programme interventions in all three countries; second, a series of pilot interviews with policymakers and stakeholders regarding what they think is working, for whom and in what circumstances, and third, a series of case studies in selected localities. The project will benefit policymakers, labour market intermediaries, employers and those looking for work. This research complements and adds to existing and previous ESRC investments because of its strong comparative dimension, its focus on regulatory tools and legislation, and its analysis of standard setting activities by public authorities. These are new areas of research that will strengthen policy learning from the US/Australia in the field of employment and welfare policies.