Blog
Unit 3 Micro: Monospony Power and Low Wages in Care Homes
4th October 2011
An October 2011 edition of Panorama from the BBC investigates low pay and poor working conditions for thousands of people struggling to earn a decent living in the care homes sector.
Thousands of care workers paid under legal limit. Research by academics at King’s College London suggests that somewhere between 150,000 and 200,000 care workers over the age of 21 may be earning less than the statutory minimum wage of £6.08 an hour for adults - that is nearly one in ten of the two million people employed in caring occupations.
The programme outlines examples of employers exploiting loopholes or bending labour market rules to avoid paying their workers the minimum and discovered abuse is particularly rife in the care work sector. An example of the worst of monopsony employer power in poorly paid jobs.
See also: Employers see minimum wage as ‘optional’, charity warns
Geoff Riley
Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for over thirty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD conferences in the UK and overseas.