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Political devolution and employment relations in Great Britain: the case of the Living Wage
Author(s) -
Heery Edmund,
Hann Deborah,
Nash David
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
industrial relations journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.525
H-Index - 3
eISSN - 1468-2338
pISSN - 0019-8692
DOI - 10.1111/irj.12306
Subject(s) - devolution (biology) , legislature , wage , living wage , incentive , politics , promotion (chess) , economics , labour economics , standard of living , state (computer science) , intervention (counseling) , power (physics) , political science , market economy , sociology , law , psychology , physics , algorithm , quantum mechanics , psychiatry , anthropology , computer science , human evolution
This article examines the role of the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales in promoting the voluntary Living Wage. It shows that active promotion of the Living Wage standard has emerged in both countries from a broader commitment to an economic policy of ‘inclusive growth’. Employment law is not a devolved matter, and the article identifies a broad range of economic incentives and soft forms of regulation that have been used by the devolved governments to promote the Living Wage in the absence of hard power to legislate. Non‐legislative forms of state intervention are often regarded sceptically, but the article shows that the attempts of devolved governments to spread the Living Wage have been impactful, particularly in Scotland.