Low Pay in the UK: The Case for a Three Sector Comparative Approach

This paper represents a first attempt to examine empirically the comparative extensiveness of low pay in the third sector against the theoretical backdrop of both the generic labour market literature and the newly emerging specialist third sector literature. It shows that the third sector occupies an intermediate position between relatively high concentrations of low pay in the private sector and low concentrations in the public sector. These differences do not emerge simply because the categories of vulnerable workers identified in the generic labour market literature are less likely to be found in the third sector. Nor do they reflect differences in sectoral industry and occupation composition. Theoretical explanations for these differences are to be found in the third sector literature.