Labour market· Pay 2018 risks being a standstill year on pay 27 December 2017 by Torsten Bell 2018 looks set to be a standstill year. On the biggest political issue of our time we will spend all 365 days of it leaving, but not out, of the EU. It also looks set to be a standstill year for our economy as most people experience it – on pay and employment we may … Continued READ MORE
Labour market· Pay Unwrapping the agency worker pay penalty 21 December 2017 by Lindsay Judge Christmas is coming – and many of the presents we’re all busy buying are being picked and packed in warehouses, delivered by drivers, or sold to us in shops by staff who are not directly employed, but who work through an agency instead. So how has this part of the workforce fared over the course … Continued READ MORE
Pensions & savings· Intergenerational Centre Auto-enrolment has had a great beginning. But will it have a happy ending? 18 December 2017 by David Finch We hear a lot about good policy plans gone wrong (Universal Credit springs to mind) for obvious reasons. But we ought to listen (and learn) from successes too. Auto-enrolment into workplace pension savings is the obvious candidate for this cheery policy tale, though the story has only just begun. Over nine million have signed up … Continued READ MORE
Labour market· Productivity & industrial strategy ‘The rise of the robots’ and ‘productivity pessimism’ can’t both be right 14 December 2017 by Adam Corlett Talk of looming automation, AI and robots is pervasive in public policy chat – including in the government’s new industrial strategy. Almost as common are projections that the weak growth of the past decade is here to stay – including in the latest official economic outlook. Sometimes these assumptions are even mentioned in the same … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Icebreakers, overtime and the squeezed middle 12 December 2017 by Torsten Bell One of the wonders of life is that there are a lot of things to talk about. But one of its big let downs is that when people regularly spend time together they often spend it talking about the same old things; the weather, what mutual acquaintances have been up to, the rest. But every … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Demographics· Pensions & savings What could the latest life expectancy projections mean for the State Pension Age? 5 December 2017 by David Finch At the end of last week, the ONS published the latest future projections showing its best estimate of how long we can expect to live. We don’t automatically associate our living standards with factors like health or how many years of life we may have. But just like income, life expectancy is an important indicator … Continued READ MORE
