Using ASHE to examine trends in low pay: Initial exploration of the data

Bryson, Alex; Phan, Van; Stokes, Lucy; Ritchie, Felix; Forth, John; McKenzie, Arusha; Whittard, Damian

Abstract

Using the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2004-2019 we report consistent time-series estimates of the percentage of jobs on and around the minimum wage; low paid jobs above the minimum; and ‘high paid’ jobs. In doing so we report on some important methodological considerations including the construction of hourly pay in ASHE; the identification of ‘main’ and ‘other’ jobs; the incidence of missing data; and the use of rounding. We show the percentage of jobs paying around the minimum wage has risen over the period, but so too has the number of ‘high paid’ jobs.

Citation

Bryson, A., Phan, V., Stokes, L., Ritchie, F., Forth, J., McKenzie, A., & Whittard, D. (in press). Using ASHE to examine trends in low pay: Initial exploration of the data. Bristol: Low Pay Commission

• Report Type: Policy Document
• Acceptance Date: Nov 2, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Nov 2, 2020
• Deposit Date: Mar 1, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 27, 2021
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/7156644