Peter’s research in this area links large datasets such as the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO), the National Pupil Database (NPD) and the National Benefits Database, to investigate questions about education and employment. He has carried out numerous large-scale evaluations of government programmes using information drawn from admin data linked across DWP, HMRC BEIS, DfE and MoJ with his colleagues at the Centre for Employment Research.
Recent Projects
Early Identification of Young People at Risk of Poor Education and Labour Market Outcomes
This project shed new light on the extent to which disadvantaged young people, with a good set of educational choices facing them at age 15, are seen to make bad choices, when compared to their more advantaged peers, facing the same choice sets.
Does the Minimum Wage Impact Labour Market Choices of Young People aged 16 to 24?
This is the first ever study of minimum wage impacts using LEO data and will inform the deliberations of the LPC on their decisions over the level of National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW).
Selected Publications
Bowyer, A., Cerqua, A., Di Pietro, G., Gorman, E. and Urwin, P. (2019), “Assessing Factors that Affect the Labour Market Decisions of Young People aged 16 to 24: Informing the LPC Review of Youth Rates”, Report to the Low Pay Commission.
Cerqua, A., Urwin, P., Thomson, D. and Gould, M. (2017), “Enterprises Engaged in Apprenticeship Learning: Analysis of change between 2011 and 2015 using a matched ILR-EDS-IDBR dataset”, Internal Experimental Statistics Report Department for Education.
Cerqua, A. and Urwin, P. (2016), “Returns to Entry Level, Level 1 and Level 2 Maths/English Learning in English Further Education”, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills [68 pages]
Bibby, D., Cerqua, A., Thomson, D. and Urwin, P. (2015), “The Impact Of Skills And Training Interventions On The Unemployed: Phase II”, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Department for Work and Pensions (published as cross-departmental HM Government Report) [125 pages]
Buscha, F. and Urwin, P. (2013), “Estimating the labour market returns to qualifications gained in English Further Education using the Individualised learner Record (ILR)”, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Blanden, J., Buscha, F., Sturgis, P. and Urwin, P. (2012) “Measuring the Returns to Lifelong Learning”, Economics of Education Review, Volume 31, No. 4; pp. 501-514.
Thomson, D., Knight, T., Buscha, F., Urwin, P. and Sturgis, P. (2010), “Research into Measuring Adult Attainment Using the Labour Force Survey: Final Report” Commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Urwin, P., Gould, M. and Page, L. (2010), “Are there changes in the characteristics of UK Higher Education around the time of the 2006 reforms? Analysis of Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data, 2002/3 to 2007/8”, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Working Paper 14
Blanden, J., Buscha, F., Sturgis, P. and Urwin, P. (2009), “The Effect of lifelong learning on Intra-generational social mobility: Evidence from longitudinal data in the United Kingdom”, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, Research Report 09 04
Prof Peter Urwin 