Work, in all its manifestations and with its very different returns, is an indispensable featureof human existence. Consequently, labour policy and social policy are concerned with shapingthe immediate conditions of everyday life. The composite term "labour and social standards"indicates that...

The analysis in the Report of the Pensions Commission (UK Pensions Commission2004, henceforth referred to as the Report), is sound, the data a wonderful treasure trove, thepresentation particularly clear, and the diagnosis correct. This comment takes the Report’sanalysis as given, and sets out...

Building on earlier work (Barr 2004a), this paper discusses the role of tuition fees in paying for teaching at universities in England, though much of the analysis applies also to the rest of the UK and to OECD countries. There is no discussion of financing research. The paper addresses three...

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act(PRWORA) of 1996 represents a dramatic change in the US welfare state.One of its key goals was to move lone mothers, even those with youngchildren, from welfare to work. Early evidence suggests that, in concertwith a strong...

The new Labour Government in Britain has made the reduction of childpoverty one of its central objectives. This paper describes the specificinitiatives involved in Labour’s approach and weighs them up in termsof their potential impact. After setting out the extent of the problem ofchild...

This paper analyses the proposals contained in the Government GreenPaper, A New Contract for Welfare: Partnership in Pensions for low paidworkers and the potential of the new rules to guarantee a decent incomein old age. It discusses the general principles inherent in the design ofthe British...

Area-based polices have become a significant part of the new LabourGovernment’s approach to tackling social exclusion. This paper reviewsthe long-running debate about whether area-based policies can make asignificant impact on poverty and social exclusion. There is a strongtradition of...

Older men have experienced the largest falls in employment over thelast twenty years. Two-fifths of men aged between 55 and 65 are withoutwork, compared to one-fifth in 1979, and the difference is equivalent to600,000 fewer jobs for this age group alone. Older women have notshared in the general...

This paper discusses the impact of growing joblessness and dwindling workopportunities on inner-city areas in America. The lack of low-skilled manualwork in the inner city is linked to poverty, crime, family dissolution and thesocial life of neighbourhoods. The paper discusses this impact at...