Apprentice Jockeys and Low Wages

The tragic death of two apprentice jockeys in an incident in North Yorkshire last weekend has prompted much press coverage of the ambitions and daily lives of the young people who aspire to make it into the intensely competitive world of professional horse racing. It struck me, reading this article in the Times, that the apprentice jockey is an excellent example to use of how a highly elastic supply of young people who want to reach their dreams has an effect on pay and conditions in their own particular labour market.

There are large hurdles (or barriers to entry) for people wanting to be a fully-fledged professional jockey. Last year less than 6% of apprentices made it into the professional ranks. For the humble apprentice desperately looking for rides and that all-important chance, the basic salary is likely to be little more than £10,000 a year for a job that involved huge hours many of which are at unsocial times plus the hard graft of traveling around the country from one course to another.

The Times article talks about “an endless supply of young talent” seeking one of the very few (and highly coveted) apprenticeship schemes. In other words, the supply of labour into the market is highly elastic at a relatively low wage rate. Little wonder that Trainers can employ apprentice jockeys at a low wage rate - and also take a slice of their riding fees.

According to the Times article:

*Until their success dictates otherwise, apprentices earn the basic stable lad’s wage. This starts at about £158.87 for a 45-hour week, rising to £214.94 between the ages of 16 to 21
*Generally, a trainer will take half the riding fees generated by his apprentice while paying half of his expenses. The riding fee on the Flat is £103.45

The passion of young jockeys also invites a discussion with students of the non-pecuniary aspects of work - the paradox being that many of the hardest jobs, both in physical effort and risk - are those that are deeply attractive to plenty of young people and thus carry virtually nothing in the way of compensating financial incentives.

Unit 2 Macro: Cyclical and Structural Economic Issues Facing the UK [23 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Evaluation on Supply-Side Policies [21 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: The Current Account of the Balance of Payments [20 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Migration and the UK Economy [20 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: The Importance of Productivity [20 May 2012]
Q&A: What do we need to know about output gaps? [20 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: The Output Gap [20 May 2012]
Revision notes on unemployment [20 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision Presentation on Elasticity of Supply [16 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Rice Prices [13 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Price Elasticity of Supply [13 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Economics of Cocoa Prices [12 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Price Volatility in Markets [12 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Economics of a Minimum Wage [12 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Differences between Merit and Public Goods [12 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Revision Notes on Supply-side Policies [10 May 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: The Dawn of a Shareholder Spring? [8 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Unemployment Glossary [5 May 2012]
Macro Revision: Putting Things in Context [29 Apr 2012]
“One Direction” and Elasticity [26 Apr 2012]
Tullow Oil and African Development [25 Apr 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Heathow’s Capacity and Connectivity Crunch [22 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Adecco and Monopsony Power [22 Apr 2012]
Ukraine Hotel ‘Bandits’? [12 Apr 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Evaluation Question on Supermarkets [11 Apr 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Revision on Entry Barriers [10 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Market Failure in Private Health Care [8 Apr 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Revision on Monopoly Price and Output [6 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Price Elasticity of Supply [5 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Producer Surplus [4 Apr 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Productivity Improvements in China [3 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: The Collapsing Price of Carbon [3 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Producer Subsidies [2 Apr 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Revision on Scale Economies, Technology and Prices [1 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Maximum Rents in Housing [1 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Producer Cartels [31 Mar 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Revision on Fixed and Variable Costs [31 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Brazilian coffee buffer stock hit by falling prices [29 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: The Tax on Beer [16 Mar 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Policies to Drive Economic Recovery [9 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Breaking Down the Cost of Gas [4 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Highest and Lowest Paid Jobs in the UK [26 Feb 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Low Pay in Supermarkets [24 Feb 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Public Goods [11 Feb 2012]
Russia’s monopoly power over gas supplies [5 Feb 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Winning the War on Deforestation [5 Feb 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Focus on India - Supply Side Issues [25 Jan 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Can the UK Computer Games Industry Grow [24 Jan 2012]
France and Flexible Employment [22 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Videos on Productivity [17 Jan 2012]
Unit1 Micro: Can a minimum wage create jobs? [16 Jan 2012]
Economics at the Movies - Freakonomics [9 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Natural Disasters and their Economic Impact [7 Jan 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Externalities from Metal Theft [2 Jan 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Biomass Subsidies and Timber Prices [30 Dec 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: The UK Housing Market in 2011 [26 Dec 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Sub Normal Profits - BP Leaves the Solar Industry [21 Dec 2011]
Economics of Deforestation [20 Dec 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Oligopoly and Duopoly in Bus Markets [20 Dec 2011]
Prezi on Information Failures [20 Dec 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Long Term Unemployment - A Human Story [15 Dec 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: India - the Road Ahead [7 Dec 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Inside a Biscuit Factory [1 Dec 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Will a Youth Jobs Subsidy Work? [30 Nov 2011]
Behavioural Economics: Herd Behaviour [28 Nov 2011]
Analysis and evaluation - do monopolies always make supernormal profits? [21 Nov 2011]
LSE lecture: Darwin economy [13 Nov 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Video Clips on Unemployment [6 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Unilever hit by rising costs [6 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Impulses to Change Management Models [5 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Time of Use Pricing for Energy [2 Nov 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Should TNCs make full disclosure on factory wages? [30 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: UK Executive Pay - All in it Together? [29 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Is the Sun Dipping on Solar Subsidies? [27 Oct 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Economic Importance of Investment [19 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Drop Box and Freemium [18 Oct 2011]
Can the “invisible hand” solve Africa’s poverty? [13 Oct 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Unit Labour Costs and Inflation [12 Oct 2011]
So many economic concepts in one article - Indian tomato production. [11 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Copper prices and a copper crime wave [10 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Monospony Power and Low Wages in Care Homes [3 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Tube Drivers set to earn £50,000 a year [3 Oct 2011]
NMW: Classical real-wage unemployment [3 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Homework Assignment on Market Prices [2 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: The Supply and Demand Rap! [28 Sep 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Exercise on Equilibrium Market Prices [27 Sep 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Drink Driving and Government Intervention [26 Sep 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Exercise on Market Supply [26 Sep 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Fixed and Variable Costs [18 Sep 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Economic Growth and Inequality [14 Sep 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Income and Wealth in the UK [12 Sep 2011]
50% tax rates - Chuck it George [7 Sep 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Baltic Dry Index and Global Weakening [19 Aug 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Cotton Prices and the Retail Price of Clothing [13 Jul 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Dangers of High Inflation [11 Jul 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Reducing Unemployment after a Recession [11 Jul 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Oligopsony - Dairy Losses Drive Farmers from the Fields [10 Jul 2011]
Glastonbury, rain, mud, abandoned tents and negative externalities. [4 Jul 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Are carbon taxes ineffective? [20 Jun 2011]
AQA ECON4 Context [20 Jun 2011]

ECONOMICS TEACHER RESOURCE NEWSLETTER

Join over 6,000 other Economics Teachers in the UK and around the world who receive the tutor2u regular Economics Resource Email Newsletter. Get special offers, first news of latest resources, teaching ideas, conferences and workshops + loads of great ideas for teaching economics from our blog authors.