The changing face of public sector employment 1999–2009
SUMMARYThis article presents an analysis of public sector employment (PSE) and makes comparisons with the private sector, using data from the Labour Force Survey and Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. It looks at the nature of employment in the public sector before discussing the characteristics that differentiate people employed in both the public and private sector, comparing proportions of public and private sector workers in different groups: by sex, age, ethnicity, disability, working pattern, education, occupation and earnings. This article serves as an update to the 2007 Economic and Labour Market Review (ELMR) article ‘Characteristics of public sector workers’ (Machin and Millard 2007).
The UK Gender Pay Gap 1997–2015: What is the Role of the Public Sector?
The Labour Force Survey is used to examine the influence of sector on the UK gender pay gap 1997â€“2015. The assessment is twofold: first comparing gender pay gaps within sectors and second through identifying the contribution of the concentration of women in the public sector to the overall gender pay gap. The longâ€ term narrowing of the gender pay gap, which predominately reflects relative improvements in women's productivityâ€ related characteristics, is found to stall in 2010 within each sector. This is considered in the context of claims that public sector austerity represents a critical turning point in progress toward gender equality at work.
How Does the Keyword Method Affect Vocabulary Comprehension and Usage? Report from the project on Studies in Language: Reading and Communication. Working Paper No. 278.
THE KEYWORD METHOD of vocabulary learning involves forming a linkage between a to-be-learned vocabulary word and a familiar English word that sounds like part of the to-be-learned item (the keyword). Then the learner forms an interactive image between the keyword and definition referents. In previous research, the keyword method has been found to facilitate students' recall of definitions, given vocabulary items. In this study, use of the method was also shown to increase comprehension of English vocabulary in context, as well as usage of that vocabulary in a novel context.