Understanding apprentice pay: Final report

Drew, Hilary; Ritchie, Felix; Michail, Veliziotis

Abstract

This is the final report from a study of apprentice pay in the UK. It uses a mixed methods approach. Econometric analysis of the Apprentice Pay Survey and the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings confirms findings of previous reports that the apprentices are more likely to be paid below the minimum wage than other workers, and that this is most likely to occur when they move into the second year of an apprenticeship.
The study also carried out interviews with apprentices, trainers and employers in the hairdressing and childcare sectors. Apprentices rely strongly on others to provide any information about wages. Whilst we did not find any evidence of deliberate underpayment, there exists a 'low pay culture' and strong power dynamics in the examined sectors which mean that there are very weak mechanisms for checking for and correcting underpayment.
The report recommends that
(1) ASHE and the APS be taken as lower and upper bounds for non-compliance estimates, respectively
(2) information about minimum wages be targeted specifically at this group
(3) the development of a smartphone enabled 'app app' to facilitate wage checking by the most vulnerable apprentices

Citation

Drew, H., Ritchie, F., & Michail, V. (2016). Understanding apprentice pay: Final report

• Report Type: Project Report
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Mar 18, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 18, 2019
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: minimum wage, apprentices, pay
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/908410
• Publisher URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/520381/UWE_Apprentice_Pay_Report_2015.pdf
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This report is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/).