Zarah ChoudharyThe employment gap between people living in the poorest and richest families in Britain has fallen by a third since the late 1990s, according to research by the Resolution Foundation.
However, workers from poorer households remained less likely to be satisfied with their job, and more likely to have an insecure employment contract.
A Hard Day’s Night – the second report of the Foundation’s Unsung Britain project, with support from JPMorgan Chase – found that lower-income families often worked in different parts of the labour market to those in higher income families.
These families were almost twice as likely to work in retail as those in higher income families (11% versus 6%), and were significantly less likely to work in the public sector (19% versus 26%).
The employment rate for a 20 to 64-year-old in a lower income household has increased from 54% 1996-97 to 64% in 2022-23.
With the employment rate for those in higher income households rising from 90% to 92% over the same period, the employment gap between the richest and poorest families in Britain has fallen by a third.
Despite a rise in disadvantaged groups, the report found employment rises among lone parents and people with disabilities from low-to-middle income families (up 17% and 13%, respectively).
However, less progress was made in terms of improving working conditions for people in low-to-middle income households.
They were found to be less likely to work in ‘secure’ jobs, and were more likely to be employed on a zero-hours contract, work in the gig economy, be solo self-employed, or to have a temporary contract.
In total, 2.5 million people in lower-income Britain were found to be employed in these ways.
Workers from low-income families consistently reported lower levels of job satisfaction than those in high-income families (77% versus 82%).
In fact, 86% of people in low-income families said that ‘security’ was a very important or essential aspect of work, making it the second most important aspect of work, after ‘like doing the job’.
‘Security’ was less of a priority among high-income families, with ‘like doing the job’, ‘relations with boss’, ‘ability to use abilities’ and ‘ability to use initiative’ all ranked higher.
Other concerns cited by workers from low-to-middle income families in focus groups conducted by the Foundation included unexpected overtime, stress at work, and bad managers.
The Foundation said that while many of the ‘quality of work’ issues raised by employees – such as treating staff with more respect and improving management quality – must be resolved directly with employers, policymakers have a role to play in boosting job security.
Provisions included in the Employment Rights Bill – including protection against unfair dismissal and the right to guaranteed hours – should help workers in lower-income families.
Nye Cominetti, principal economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Britain has long had a huge jobs divide between rich and poor families.
“But that divide has fallen by a third in recent decades, thanks to huge employment gains among disadvantaged groups such as lone parents and people with disabilities.
“But Britain still has a ‘quality of work’ gap.
“Workers from lower income families are less likely than those from richer households to have a secure job or be satisfied at work.
“With over four-in-five workers from lower income families saying that security is a vital aspect of their work, the Government is right to focus on improving working conditions through its Employment Rights Bill in the face of opposition from business.”
