Briefs, correspondence and policy papers, including: review and briefing from the Low Pay Unit on low pay and poverty; OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) studies on the impact of the minimum wage in France and on the French and North American youth labour markets; figures from the Trades Union Congress; note by William McCarthy [employment spokesman] on the employment consequences of a minimum wage; draft article and comments on Labour’s proposals from Michael Howard [Secretary of State for Employment]; Conservative Research Department paper, Labour’s Axe on Jobs, with Labour comments on the Department of Employment’s figures.