News and Blog

Flexible working needs to be available for all to avoid widening inequalities, a report from academics at Cardiff University concludes. The findings, from work and employment group ReWAGE, which includes one of the co-authors Professor Alan Felstead of the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data (WISERD), set out the current and potential…

Professor Alan Felstead spoke to Jason Mohammad about Rishi Sunak’s proposal to put a limit on ‘low value’ degree courses. (BBC Radio Wales, approx. 10 mins in, 17/07/23)

Teachers in England who are expecting an Ofsted inspection in the coming 12 months have worse job quality and a higher work intensity, according to a report. The study from academics at Cardiff University and University College London (UCL) also showed that the conditions for teaching professionals have barely changed since the pandemic and have,…

2023 brought a new wave of strikes following six months of increasing industrial action across the country. More and more workers, including those in key public sector roles, voted for industrial action often with huge majorities and mostly comfortably clearing the high ballot turnout threshold imposed by government legislation aimed at making strikes more difficult….

In a new, open access paper, Rhys Davies and Professor Alan Felstead share insights from quiz data collected before and after Covid-19 to examine what short-term effects the pandemic has had on job quality in the UK. The results show that non-pay-related job quality has improved, differences between occupations have shrunk and the growth of…

On Wednesday 12 April, Dr Dan Evans will be launching his new book: ‘A Nation of Shopkeepers: The Unstoppable Rise of the Petty Bourgeoisie’ at Waterstones, Cardiff. Dan will be in the store discussing his book, which will be available to purchase on the day. Tickets for the book launch are available on the Waterstones website….

Katy Huxley, Alan Felstead (WISERD) and Francis Green (UCL) presented the first results of their research on the changing job quality of teachers to a fringe event at the National Education Union (NEU) annual conference in Harrogate today (3 April 2023). The evidence is based on a research project carried out by WISERD at Cardiff…

New research carried out by ADR Wales has examined the effectiveness of careers guidance in supporting participation in post compulsory education and training and how careers guidance is prioritised. The work, which was undertaken by ADR Wales researchers Dr Katy Huxley and Rhys Davies, used anonymised Careers Wales data to examine how the provision of careers support to key stage…

On 20 February 2023, Professor Alan Felstead was interviewed for a BBC television programme investigating the falling footfall in city centres such as Cardiff and the rise in some of the smaller towns surrounding the Welsh capital. Similar patterns are evident across the UK. Professor Felstead’s research shows that one of main reasons for these…

Since April 2017, UK employers with over 250 employees have been required to annually report their gender pay gap to the public. The introduction of pay transparency legislation is undoubtably one of the most significant policy developments aimed at tackling the gender pay gap worldwide. The original publication comprised 10,000 organisational gender pay gaps, attracting…