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In the UK, most employment support programmes still prioritise getting people into work quickly. Schemes like Restart and sector-based Work Academy Programmes help fill vacancies, but rarely address whether those jobs offer decent pay, security, or prospects. The  project takes a different approach. Instead of concentrating on jobseekers, it asks how governments could use their vast purchasing power – through procurement, commissioning, and grants – to incentivise or require employers to offer better jobs. 

Over two years, researchers – led by the University of Â鶹¹û¶³´«Ã½ in collaboration with  – examined how the UK, the USA, and Australia use public spending in low-wage, high-growth sectors such as social care and construction, drawing on policy analysis and interviews.

The research reveals three major barriers to improving job quality:

• Work-first policies still dominate. Employment support focuses on rapid job entry, leaving many workers in insecure, low-paid roles with little opportunity for career progression.

• Procurement and employment services are disconnected. Public contracts and employment programmes often operate separately, missing chances to improve job quality and maximise taxpayer value.

• Labour standards in public contracts are inconsistent. Where standards exist, they can lead to higher wages, predictable hours, and better training – but monitoring is weak, and many employers receiving public funds are not required to follow them.

, Principal Investigator from the University of Â鶹¹û¶³´«Ã½’s School of Business and Law, said: “Across all three countries, the way public contracts are designed really matters. In social care, for example, commissioning still typically funds care in short, timed visits – sometimes as little as 15 minutes – rather than paying for a full, stable shift. That creates volatile hours and unpaid travel for workers and leads to high turnover of staff. Unless commissioning properly builds in decent conditions like guaranteed hours, paid training and career progression, we won’t see the improvements in job quality that workers need.” 

The study shows that even when good-practice frameworks exist – such as living-wage accreditation, good-work charters, or community benefit plans – they are often voluntary, inconsistently applied, or not backed by strong monitoring. This limits their ability to shift employer behaviour or raise standards at scale.

Dr Daguerre said: “Although there are promising pockets of innovation – such as local good-work charters, living-wage commissioning, and clearer fair-work frameworks – most of these remain only semi-voluntary. A key recommendation is to connect employment support programmes with public-sector contracts. Governments could, for example, link job-placement schemes to investment in public infrastructure and care services. This could include measures like priority referrals, ensuring that people seeking work are considered for roles funded by public contracts.”

The research team hope that their findings will encourage policymakers to rethink how procurement, commissioning and public contracts are used. Strengthening and enforcing labour standards within these systems could help move away from a “work first” approach and towards one that supports good, stable jobs that people can build a future on.

By sharing insights through engagement with policymakers – including briefings for MPs and Peers and participation in Evidence Week in Parliament – the team aims to influence thinking in Parliament and beyond about the future of work. They also hope to produce an accessible book for policymakers, practitioners and the public, showing in clear terms how everyday decisions about funding and contracts shape people’s working lives, and exploring new ideas for creating fairer, more stable employment.

Looking further ahead, the research aspires to explore how emerging technologies like artificial intelligence may affect work, and how governments and communities might respond to ensure these changes support good-quality, sustainable jobs.

Activating Employers is a two-year research project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).