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Author: David Metcalf

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CentrePiece article
Remembering David Marsden

David Marsden, who passed away in August 2021, was involved in CEP research for many years, working on employment and industrial relations, youth employment and training, performance-related pay, performance management a...Read more...

David Metcalf

22 February 2022

CentrePiece article
A shortage of nurses?

The government’s Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has reluctantly recommended that nurses remain on the ‘shortage occupation list’, while criticising the health sector for failing to maintain a sufficient supply of UK ...Read more...

David Metcalf

9 June 2016

CentrePiece article
The ‘investor route’ to UK citizenship

Simple reforms to the ‘investor route’ system whereby wealthy foreigners can get permanent residence in the UK would benefit current residents and signal that the country is open. That’s the view of Sir David Metcalf, ch...Read more...

David Metcalf

3 October 2014

CentrePiece article
Immigration and the UK labour market

David Metcalf, chair of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), outlines recent changes in the regulatory framework for immigrant workers....Read more...

David Metcalf

12 December 2012

CEP discussion paper
Why Has the British National Minimum Wage Had Little or No Impact on Employment?

A century has passed since the first call for a British national minimum wage (NMW). That remarkable Fabian tract discussed wage setting, coverage, monopsony, international labour standards, inspection and compliance and...Read more...

David Metcalf

April 2007

CentrePiece article
In brief... Britain's minimum wage: what impact on pay and jobs?

The national minimum wage is now an established part of the British labour market. In the first evaluation of all the evidence of its impact on pay and jobs, David Metcalf shows that there has been a big boost in the pay...Read more...

David Metcalf

December 2006

CentrePiece article
Trade unions in China

China apparently has more trade union members than the rest of the world put together. But as David Metcalf and Jianwei Li have found, Chinese unions function very differently from unions in the West....Read more...

Jianwei Li and David Metcalf

June 2006

CEP discussion paper
Chinese Unions: Nugatory or Transforming? An 'Alice' Analysis

China has, apparently, more trade union members than the rest of the world put together. But the unions do not function in the same way as western trade unions. In particular Chinese unions are subservient to the Partyst...Read more...

Jianwei Li and David Metcalf

December 2005

CentrePiece article
Trade unions: resurgence or demise?

Trade unions have been in decline in Britain for 25 years. A new book edited by Sue Fernie and David Metcalf - and featuring contributions from most leading analysts of the labour movement - takes a generally pessimistic...Read more...

Sue Fernie and David Metcalf

June 2005

CentrePiece article
Race relations

The laws of economics apply equally to the Sport of Kings, argues David Metcalf....Read more...

David Metcalf

February 2004

CentrePiece article
Unions past, present and future

David Metcalf charts the fortunes of the British trade union movement over the last half-century and suggests where it will have to concentrate to find its place in the new economy....Read more...

David Metcalf

February 2003

CEP discussion paper
Unions and Productivity, Financial Performance and Investment: International Evidence

If the presence of a union in a workplace or firm raises the pay level, unless productivity rises correspondingly, financial performance is likely to be worse. If the product market is uncompetitive this might imply a si...Read more...

David Metcalf

July 2002

CentrePiece article
Turning the tide

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David Metcalf

June 2001

CEP discussion paper
British Unions: Dissolution or Resurgence Revisited

Union membership rose by 100,000 in 1999 ending two decades of sustained membership losses û the longest, deepest decline in British labour history yielding a cumulative fall of over 5 million members. This paper analyse...Read more...

David Metcalf

April 2001

CentrePiece article
Fighting for equality

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David Metcalf

June 2000

CEP discussion paper
Unions and the Sword of Justice: Unions and Pay Systems, Pay Inequality, Pay Discrimination and Low Pay

Dispersion in pay is lower among union members than among non-unionists. This reflects two factors. First, union members and jobs are more homogeneous than their non-union counterparts. Second, union wage policies within...Read more...

A Charlwood, Kirstine Hansen and David Metcalf

March 2000

CEP discussion paper
The British National Minimum Wage

Great Britain has had statutory regulation of minimum pay for much of this century but never previously had a national minimum wage (NMW). This paper outlines the history of minimum wage regulation culminating in 1997 wi...Read more...

David Metcalf

March 1999

CentrePiece article
The way out?

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David Metcalf

February 1999

CEP discussion paper
(Not)Hanging on the Telephone: Payment systems in the New Sweatshops

'The ultimate objective of empirical work on incentives should be to find out why firms use the compensation systems they doàhuge advances in our understanding could be made by a concerted effort to collect data on cont...Read more...

Sue Fernie and David Metcalf

May 1998

CEP report
Low Pay And Minimum Wages: The British Evidence

Sue Fernie and David Metcalf survey the economic evidence concerning the impact on pay, jobs and poverty of a minimum wage set at different levels. Minimum wages are probably the most controversial political and economic...Read more...

Sue Fernie and David Metcalf

September 1996

CentrePiece article
It's not what you pay, it's the way that you pay it

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Sue Fernie and David Metcalf

June 1996

CEP discussion paper
It's Not What You Pay

Management scholars and economists have recently set out the principles underlying the 'ideal' payment system to elicit good performance by aligning the interests of the principal and agent. Such a system involves an inc...Read more...

Sue Fernie and David Metcalf

May 1996

CEP discussion paper
Employment Protection Legislation and Labour Market Outcomes in Spain

Spanish experience of labour market deregulation since the early 1980s, particularly in the form of reform of fixed-term contract legislation, illustrates the potential pitfalls of such policies. The changing nature of e...Read more...

David Metcalf, S Milner and G Nombela

May 1995

CEP discussion paper
Participation

Establishment level data from the 1990 British Workplace Industrial Relations Survey are used to analyse links between employee involvement, contingent pay, collective representation and six different indicators of workp...Read more...

Sue Fernie and David Metcalf

March 1995

CEP discussion paper
The Effect of Minimum Wages on UK Agriculture

Since the abolition of the Wages Councils in September 1993, agriculture is the only sector in the UK economy covered by any form of minimum wage legislation. This paper investigates the impact of the system of minimum w...Read more...

Richard Dickens, Stephen Machin, Alan Manning, David Metcalf, Jonathan Wadsworth and S Woodland

August 1994

CEP discussion paper
Spanish Pay Setting Institutions and Performance Outcomes

Links between Spanish industrial relations institutions and performance outcomes are examined. Part I considers changes in various institutions since the end of the Franco period: the structure of collective bargaining; ...Read more...

David Metcalf and S Milner

June 1994

CEP discussion paper
Transformation of British Industrial Relations? Institutions, Conduct and Outcomes 1980-1990

The institutions and conduct of British industrial relations changed fundamentally in the last decade or so. Union membership haemorrhaged. Management prerogatives were restored. Management often extricated itself from p...Read more...

David Metcalf

March 1993

CEP discussion paper
Industrial Relations and Economic Performance

Post-war concern about our industrial relations system has been dominated by three issues - pay performance at workplace, company and national level, and industrial action. In each case the focus of interest is the link ...Read more...

David Metcalf

March 1993

CEP discussion paper
Do Strikes Pay?

One-in-forty manufacturing settlements involved a strike during the 1980s. Strike days lost were equivalent to half a day for each worker in manufacturing. On average, for the decade as a whole, real pay increases where ...Read more...

Peter Ingram, David Metcalf and Jonathan Wadsworth

August 1992

CEP discussion paper
Signals and Cycles Productivity Growth and Changes in Union Status in British Companies

Productivity growth in 329 companies (total employment = 1.96 million workers) is analysed for the period 1984-1989. The study breaks new ground by (i) analysing the impact of changes in union status - such as repudiatio...Read more...

Paul Gregg, Stephen Machin and David Metcalf

August 1991

CEP discussion paper
Strike Incidence and Duration in British Manufacturing Industry in the 1980s

Around 1-in-40 wage settlements involves a strike in British manufacturing during the 1980s. The average strike duration was 12 days. Data kindly made available by the CBI are used to analyse strike incidence, duration a...Read more...

Peter Ingram and David Metcalf

August 1991

CEP discussion paper
A Century of UK Strike Activity: An Alternative Perspective

New series of strike activity over the last century are presented. Most strikers are union members. Therefore time series running from 1893 to 1989 for strike frequency, workers involved and days lost have been calculate...Read more...

David Metcalf and S Milner

February 1991