The dynamics of low quality work, in-work poverty, and subjective well-being: a longitudinal study of Switzerland and the UK

The objective of this research is to examine and explain the association between low-quality work, poverty and subjective well-being over time in Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The specific aims are: (i) to analyse two long-running panel datasets so that longer-term relationships can be explored; (ii) to produce new empirical estimates which will inform and stimulate the wider academic community about these relationships; (iii) to draw lessons from variations between and within these countries about these relationships, contributing to new knowledge about the consistency or contingency of these relationships, and (iv) to contribute to debates in Switzerland, the UK and internationally about the forms of low-quality work, including whether these are best understood as a ‘stepping stone’ or a ‘dead end’. Our study is longitudinal, comparative and quantitative in orientation. The comparison of Switzerland and the UK has value because while both have lightly-regulated labour markets where forms of low-quality work might be said to proliferate, Switzerland’s social protection system is more encompassing than that of the UK.