The Value of Work

Since the 1980s dramatic pay differentials have developed in the UK. Until recently, society had become quite comfortable with this as an inevitable outcome of our economic system. The introduction of the minimum wage acknowledged that the market was not always the best arbiter of wages. Despite this, inequalities have continued to rise, with the top 1 per cent taking an increasingly large share of the proceeds of economic growth.

For the first time, nef has put a value on what different types of employment are ‘worth’ to us as a society. Taking three highly-paid occupations (a banker, an advertising executive, and an elite tax accountant), and three low-paid occupations (a childcare worker, a hospital cleaner, and a recycling plant worker) we valued for each of them their productivity in economic terms, but also the social and environmental value that these roles produce, or destroy.

The findings of this work were published in our report A Bit Rich in December 2009 just as news of bankers’ bonuses was being headlined.  The report throws light on the disparity between rewards for certain activities that have little social benefit and disincentives for others that have far greater social benefit. Not only are people encouraged to pursue a bottom line no matter what cost (e.g. sell a mortgage to someone they know can’t afford it) but the jobs that may be the most socially and environmentally destructive may be attracting the best and brightest staff at the expense of other professions.

The research challenges our notion of what constitutes ‘value’ and suggests mechanisms for measuring a broader and richer set of costs and benefits that are not captured in the bottom line. Finally, it disrupts the link between pay and status and draws attention to the impacts of different kinds of work that are often hidden behind paychecks. The research goes beyond the usual emphasis on nurses and teachers to jobs that often go unnoticed.