Can growth sectors reduce poverty?

The Bevan Foundation is working with Birmingham and Coventry Universities and the London School of Economics to find out how employment growth sectors can be harnessed to reduce poverty in Wales.

Nearly one in four people of working age in Wales lives on a low household income.  While working reduces the risk of being in poverty, increasingly being in employment is not a guarantee of avoiding poverty.

The findings of this project will make a vital contribution to developing new approaches to reducing poverty, both for people in work and people looking for employment.

The project:

• reviewed the evidence on work entry, progression, and job quality;
• looked at promising approaches to linking growth sectors and poverty reduction in case studies
• developed recommendations for public policy.

The project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Key Outputs

The first outputs included:

• four round-table discussions with employers, training providers and practitioners in Wrexham, Swansea and Cardiff;
• production of briefings summarising the context, key findings and recommendations (see ‘publications’ below);
• longer reports and articles.

Publications

The detailed reports are published by the Public Policy Institute Wales and are available on their website.  The Bevan Foundation has published four accessible, policy-focused briefings:

Briefing: Can growth sectors help reduce poverty

A short briefing introducing the project and summarising the role which growth sectors can play in helping to reduce poverty.

Briefing: Overview of growth sectors in Wales

An introduction to Wales’ growth sectors.

Briefing: Why reducing poverty in Wales matters

A short summary looking at poverty in Wales and why it needs to be reduced.

Briefing: How economic sectors can reduce poverty

A short summary of policy recommendations.

The project completed in November 2017.