In the context of a worldwide cost-of-living crisis and likely recession, policy attention will focus increasingly on poverty and employment. Globally, those workers employed in low-wage, unstable jobs with poor working conditions are likely to suffer disproportionately from this crisis, thus exacerbating existing inequalities in both middle- and high-income countries. This event will discuss how poor-quality employment can be defined and measured across a broad range of countries by applying methodologies widely used to measure multidimensional poverty to the labour market. It will further discuss the policy implications and applications of this research, especially in the context of a potential global recession, which may accelerate the impact of technological advances on labour markets. 

The event will present research from a British Academy Global Professorship on multidimensional quality of employment deprivation hosted by the LSE’s International Inequalities Institute. James Foster will discuss the results presented with a particular focus on their policy implications.

Meet our speakers and chair

Mauricio Apablaza is Director of research at the School of Government at the Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile and a research associate of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at Oxford University. Mauricio is also president of the experts commission on quality of employment of the Chilean Ministry of Labour and a Visiting Fellow at LSE International Inequalities Institute.

James Foster is the Oliver T. Carr Professor of International Affairs and Professor of Economics at George Washington University (Washington, DC). His research focuses on welfare economics. His ground-breaking methodological work with Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen and Sabina Alkire (Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative) on multidimensional poverty and inequality has transformed how international institutions and individual governments measure and think about human development.

Kirsten Sehnbruch (@KirstenSehn) is a British Academy Global Professor and a Distinguished Policy Fellow at the International Inequalities Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Previously, she was a Research Fellow at the Universidad de Chile, Director of the Institute for Public Policy at the Universidad Diego Portales (Chile), and a Lecturer at the University of California, at Berkeley.

Tania Burchardt is Associate Director of the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (CASE) and an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Policy at LSE. Tania’s research focuses on multidimensional inequality and disadvantage, in particular through the lens of the capability approach. She has written recently about inequalities in adult social care in the UK, and about the relationship between welfare state retrenchment and subjective justification of the private accumulation of wealth.

More about this event

This event forms part of LSE’s Understanding the UK Economy series, showcasing research and expertise on the state of the UK economy, its global context and its future.

The International Inequalities Institute (@LSEInequalities) at LSE brings together experts from many LSE departments and centres to lead critical and cutting-edge research to understand why inequalities are escalating in numerous arenas across the world, and to develop critical tools to address these challenges.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEUKEconomy