Progression in Employment

Supporting in-work progression for low-skilled, low-paid workers

The Progression in Employment (PIE) project has sought to describe the challenges faced by low-skilled, low-paid workers in accessing progression opportunities in four sectors (retail, hospitality, health and social care), across six countries (UK, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Germany), and to identify and showcase promising examples of employer practice to support in-work progression. The work has involved:

■   a cross-country data analysis exploring the probabilities of progression for low-skilled workers, and the impact of skills on chances of progression;

■   a desk-based review of employer practice;

■   a literature review exploring the potential for behavioural insights or ‘nudge’ approaches to encourage more employers to do something to support in-work progression, and how such approaches may be used by employers to ensure their own organisational policies and practices are inclusive;

■   in-depth case studies with sixteen organisations from across the six countries and four sectors.

This paper summarises the evidence collected and the main outputs from the project.

This report is published by IES with the support of J.P. Morgan under their global New Skills at Work initiative.