Project overview
Welfare reforms have sought to increase employment among lone parents, but entering work does not always reduce poverty. Sustained employment has a greater change of reducing poverty than opting in and out of work on a short term basis. But what is the best policy approach to encourage sustained employment?
This project will investigage the impact of two recent welfare-to-work policies (In-Work Credit and the Employment Retention and Advancement Demonstration) on short and medium term employment outcomes. The researchers will identify which in-work benefits ‘ and which specific features of them ‘ are the most likely to foster job retention among lone parents.
The project will be carried out with the DWP and using administrative data on benefit and employment spells in a cutting-edge empirical model of employment transitions. The findings will be presented in a technical working paper, placing the results in the context of the existing literature.
Publications
- Project Websitehttps://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/projects/understanding-the-mechanisms-of-in-work-benefits-can-they-improve-employment-retention-among-lone-parents
- Progression and retention in the labour market: what have we learned from IWC and ERA?https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/1002530 October 17
- A look back at In Work Credit and ERA: do financial incentives encourage retention?Slides_Brewer_Cribb.pdf480.49KB 24 May 17
- Lone parents, time-limited in-work credits and the dynamics of work and welfare.2017-01.pdf461.55KB 01 January 17
Team
- Professor Mike BrewerInstitute for Fiscal Studies
Alex BeerSenior Consultant, WelfareNuffield Foundation
