This snapshot taken on 26/07/2008, shows web content selected for preservation by The National Archives. External links, forms and search boxes may not work in archived websites.
 
 26 July 2008
Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS)
 
You are here:
 

Labour Market Flexibility Small Grants Fund

Program description

The Labour Market Flexibility Small Grants Fund is a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) initiative to develop the evidence base and encourage debate on labour market flexibility issues, through small research grants of up to £10,000.

When announcing the UK government’s decision on Economic and Monetary Union in June 2003, Chancellor Brown committed the government to “publish six monthly reports on trends and progress in flexibility in labour, product and capital markets”. 

DTI’s Employment Market Analysis and Research (EMAR) branch organised a seminar on 'New directions in labour market flexibility research' in November 2004 (see EMAR events).

EMAR, which administers the Small Grants Fund, sought proposals for research papers on labour market flexibility topics. Although we considered research proposals of a theoretical or conceptual nature, we were particularly interested in funding papers on:

  • Measuring trends and progress in labour market flexibility
  • The relationship between labour market flexibility and productivity
  • The impact of employment regulations on labour market flexibility
  • The interaction of flexibility in labour, product and capital markets

Papers could restrict themselves to the UK labour market, or provide a comparative analysis. We considered papers that sought to make an original contribution and also those which built on existing research.

We encouraged applications from multidisciplinary teams, and the involvement of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.

Selection criteria

Proposals were selected on the basis of their contribution to the evidence base and their relevance to UK government policy makers.

The amount of the small grant offered depended on:

  • The number of worthwhile proposals received
  • The complexity and originality of the research proposal
  • Whether the authors are prepared to have their paper published by DTI
  • Whether the paper will provide new datasets, techniques or measures

What we asked for in return

DTI asked for a publishable draft of the paper, in Word format. Participants were also asked to present a PowerPoint presentation of the paper’s main findings at a seminar arranged by us in December 2004. DTI aims to publish the papers in 2006.

Labour Market Flexibility Research Seminar, London 15 December 2004

Powerpoint presentations are available (see Related Documents).

More details
For more information about DTI’s Labour Market Flexibility Small Grants Fund please contact Grant Fitzner or David Tinsley at DTI.

© Crown copyright 2008