The Significance of the Real Living Wage

Abstract

Abstract The final chapter opens with another vignette, the announcement of new Living Wage rates by Mark Drakeford, First Minister of Wales, at a virtual event in November 2021. This event is used to highlight themes that have emerged over the course of the study. Following the vignette, the chapter presents a summary of key findings, which are related back to the literature on civil regulation introduced in Chapter 1. The chapter then draws core conclusions about the significance of the study for the field of employment relations. It is stated that the case illustrates: (1) the increasing role of new civil society actors in shaping the world of work; (2) the emergence of a ‘neo-paternalism’ in employer strategy; (3) the continued resilience of trade unions; and (4) a shift towards a more active pattern of state intervention in the employment relationship, which breaks with neo-liberal orthodoxy and flows from a broader attempt to promote ‘inclusive growth’.