Human Resources since 1900

The primary aim of the CEPR research programme in Human Resources since 1900 is to bring together the skills and knowledge of historians and contemporary social scientists in the study of long-run developments in demography and related aspects of the economic and social structure and processes in Britain in the twentieth century. This is intrinsically an important area of research. But it is also of vital relevance to the understanding and formulation of policy. Many matters of urgent public concern derive their character from and are bound up in events, social behaviour, institutions and policies which themselves developed long before the 1970s and 1980s.

Such public policy issues include, at a general level, changes in the size and composition of the population, and more specifically, the demographic determinants of the level of public expenditure and the state of the social services, the implications of the 'ageing' of the population, the nature and acquisition of skills in the labour force and the demand for and supply of health care. An understanding of the relevant past events, of the continuing processes of which they are a part, and of the extent to which they are embedded in British society is essential if government is to be able to react sensitively and appropriately to current policy issues.

CEPR held a two-day workshop on 27-28 January 1984 financed by the Nuffield Foundation and the Department of Health and Social Security, on Human Resources since 1900. Thirty historians, economists, demographers, sociologists and civil servants discussed agendas for research within each of four major areas of interest, with Roderick Floud and Barry Supple chairing the sessions. In each area, a paper by a contemporary social scientist set out issues of current concern, while an historian discussed our knowledge of past developments in the field and the data available for further study. These areas and the speakers were: demographic change and population policy (David Eversley and Jay Winter), the ageing of the population (Malcolm Johnson and Pat Thane), health and the determinants of changing pattern and provision of health care (Richard Wilkinson and Charles Webster) and long-run labour force issues (John Ermisch and Heather Joshi on current problems, Tim Hatton on historical issues). Most of the papers will appear shortly as CEPR Discussion Papers (see the summaries in this Bulletin of Discussion Papers nos. 1 and 5).

From the outset (as Eversley made clear), participants were aware that in this field the distinction between the 'historical' and the 'contemporary' approach is not very useful; current issues are merely aspects of historical processes. The discussion itself amply demonstrated that the distinction was valid only, if at all, in terms of the source materials which a researcher was accustomed to use. In the event, every participant showed a concern for historical developments as well as for current, and indeed prospective, policy issues. Topics which attracted particularly intense discussion were: the changing role of the state in stimulating and responding to structural and regional changes in the economy and the labour force; the nature of decision-making within the public service and the awareness in government of demographic issues; the importance of recognising that each age-group within the population has been subjected to a different set of formative experiences; the social construction of the age of retirement; the explosive growth of various aspects of provision for the elderly (e.g., sheltered housing); the need for better indicators of the quality of life and the relationship between health and utility; the extent of our ignorance about female as opposed to male ageing; and the general relationship between transfer payments (public and private), age, sex, family structure and labour force participation. Three French participants gave a most valuable comparative perspective and a vivid illustration of the importance of historical understanding in their discussion of the development of the French social security system since the 1920s.

The workshop produced an abundance of ideas, both from social scientists and from representatives of the DHSS and the Department of Employment, which will be pursued within the research programme. It also served to bring together researchers in hitherto distinct but clearly related fields.