Caroline Lloyd is Professor at the School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University and an Associate Fellow at the centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance. Her research focuses on the relationships between product markets, labour markets, work organisation and skills. She has published widely on issues related to the political economy of skill and the causes and consequences of low wage work, including co-editing Low-Wage Work in the United Kingdom (Russell Sage Foundation). Current research interests include international comparisons of skill and work organisation; job quality; industrial policy and skill utilisation.

Jonathan Payne is Reader in Employment Studies in the Department of Human Resource Management at Leicester Business School, De Montfort University, and a member of the research group on Contemporary Research on Organisations, Work and Employment (CROWE). Prior to this, he was a researcher with the Economic and Social Research Council's centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE). His research interests and publications encompass the political economy of skill, vocational education and training policy, the changing meaning of 'skill', workplace innovation, and international comparative studies of work organisation and job quality.