Non-compliance in the hairdressing and childcare sectors: A qualitative study of apprentice pay

Drew, Hilary

Abstract

This paper presents some of the qualitative findings from some wider research undertaken for the Low Pay Commission on non-compliance in apprenticeship pay in the hairdressing and childcare sectors. Interviews with over seventy respondents, including apprentices, employers and Further Education colleges revealed that apprentices had poor knowledge around what their hourly hour. Moreover, most apprentices were incurious about their wages, pointing, instead, to the low levels of their take-home pay. Thus, in the paper, we argue that as apprentices saw low pay as a normal feature of being an apprentice at the bottom of the workplace hierarchy, they focused on their dislike of the low take-home pay, but did not worry overmuch about the specific hourly rate. Therefore, the study also calls into question the extent to which datasets such as APS and ASHE may contain incorrect information. Our research included an exercise which suggested that apprentices were unable to supply basic information about their pay and hours, even when they were able to collude.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Work, Pensions and Labour Economics Study Group (WPEG)
• Start Date: Jul 25, 2016
• End Date: Jul 26, 2016
• Deposit Date: Apr 28, 2021
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/7310578