Wage top-up schemes are an attractive way for policy makers to address income inequalities, but they may well be corrosive to those they are aiming to help

As the global economic crisis continues, global wage inequalities have become even starker. While the government is keen to reduce these inequalities through its Working Tax Credit wage top-up, Hartley Dean argues that these schemes may be counter-productive, stigmatising some recipients and locking others into the low-paid periphery of a polarised labour market.