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The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of specific active labour market policies (ALMP) and increased use of zero hour contracts (ZHCs) in creating an environment in which low-wage jobs flourish. Alongside these, it examines the role of financialization over the last 30 years in fostering the nuturalization of policies that institutionalize low wages and deregulate the economy in favour of big business.

This paper draws upon academic literature, official statistics, and analyses via the concept of neoliberalism.

This paper demonstrates that via a set of interconnected macro and micro factors low pay is set to remain entrenched in the UK. It has demonstrated that this is not the result of some natural response to labour market demands. Far from it, it has argued that these policy choices are neoliberal in motivation and the outcome of establishing low pay and insecure employment is a significant character of the contemporary labour market is deliberate.

This paper encourages a re-think of how the authors address this issue of low pay in the UK by highlighting alternative forms of understanding the causes of low pay.

It presents an alternative analysis of low pay in the UK which allows us to understand and call into question the low-pay economy. In doing so it demonstrates that crucial to this understanding is state regulation.

This paper allows for a more nuanced understanding of the economic conditions of the inequality caused by low pay, and provides an argument as to alternative ways in which this can be addressed.

The paper examines the relationship between the rise of neoliberalism and finance capital, the subsequent emergence of the neoliberal organization, the associated proliferation of ALMP and ZHCs, and the impact of these on creating a low-wage economy. It makes the argument that the UK’s low-wage economy is the result of regulatory choices influenced by a political preference for financialization, even if such choices are presented as not being so. Thus, the contribution of this paper is that it brings together distinct and important contemporary issues for scholars of employee relations, but connects them to the role of the state and neoliberal regulation.

The purpose of this paper is to draw upon empirical research in order to demonstrate the ways in which trade unions have responded to the so‐called current UK pension crisis.

The paper uses both theoretical approaches to neoliberalism, and empirical research in the form of interviews, to examine the contradictions between the rhetoric and reality of government policy towards, and trade union responses to, pension reform in the UK.

That trade unions have been constrained by: the fact that the labour party, which they support, has been in government but has increasingly become receptive to neoliberal economic policies; and by the broader discourse of pension reform, advanced by elites that are committed to neoliberal reforms to the British welfare state.

The scope of the paper is large and thus certain issues regarding the pension crisis and ideology are not covered in as much detail as would be preferred.

The paper offers forward a unique critique regarding the current favoured pension policies and solutions.

This paper draws upon front‐line theoretical contributions and combines them with the author's interviews with leading trade union general secretaries. As such, it is a unique insight into not only the current so‐called “pensions crisis” but also the responses of trade unions, and the labour movement more broadly, to this constructed dilemma.

This symposium examines issues related to local economic development financing. The symposium introduction paper consists of two sections: (1) a review of the literature related to local economic development in general and to the financing economic development in particular; and (2) a summary of major findings from the four symposium papers addressing such issues as rural bank loans, the tax increment financing program, professionalism in economic development, and regional development through tax sharing.

This symposium examines issues related to local economic development financing. The symposium introduction paper consists of two sections: (1) a review of the literature related to local economic development in general and to the financing economic development in particular; and (2) a summary of major findings from the four symposium papers addressing such issues as rural bank loans, the tax increment financing program, professionalism in economic development, and regional development through tax sharing.

This study explores the distribution of insufficient effort responders according to methods of classifying students’ evaluation of teaching effectiveness in higher education. Five different methods were found in the literature to classify students’ evaluation of teaching effectiveness in higher education.

Quantitative research methodology was used to achieve the goals of this study. Data from a major public university was used through 20 five-point items that are designed to measure students’ evaluation of teaching effectiveness. The dataset that consisted of 26,679 surveys was analyzed. Detecting insufficient efforts responding was based on item response theory procedures.

The results show that insufficient effort responders are distributed differently to students’ evaluation of teaching effectiveness in higher education levels according to different methods of classifying these levels. The results of this study suggest using a percentage of students’ agreement of 4 or 5 for each item to classify SET levels and deleting IERs before interpreting SET results.

According to the results of this study, it is recommended to research the relationships between IER and SET scores and students’ motivation to participate in evaluating teaching effectiveness.

According to the results of this study, it is recommended to:1– Exclude the IERs from the dataset before generating SET reports. 2– Use the percentage of 4 (agree) and 5 (strongly agree) satisfactions of SET items to classify and interpret SET results.

Reviewing the literature shows the absence of studies that explore the distribution of insufficient effort responders according to methods of classifying students’ evaluation of teaching effectiveness in higher education. The results suggest using a percentage of students’ agreement of 4 or 5 for each item to classify SET levels and deleting IERs before interpreting SET results.