Search for a housing strategy

by

The housing crisis has built up over time and can’t be fixed overnight. But there are things the government can do to make homes more affordable to lower-income families Much of Britain is unaffordable to lower-income, working families according to Home Truths, a report published this week by the Resolution Foundation. The report finds that a … Continued

Retirement trends in the UK

by

We aren’t saving enough for retirement. This was one of the findings presented in Resolution Foundation’s recent audit of low to middle income households, Squeezed Britain, which showed that a massive 69 per cent of low to middle income households do not have a pension. Across all income groups the proportion failing to save for a … Continued

Is underemployment the new normal?

by

This post originally appeared on the Huffington Post Today’s ONS release confirms the scale of the rise in underemployment. More than one in ten workers are now underemployed, working fewer hours than they would like to – a million more than in 2008. Recently, this increase has run hand in hand with a flat-lining of overall unemployment, as … Continued

Part-time work: two sides to every story

by

A glance at the labour market statistics will tell you that there’s a lot of involuntary underemployment. The number of people in this position –working few hours or in lower-skilled jobs for lack of finding something more suitable – is worryingly high and has been for some time. At the start of 2008, 1 million people … Continued

A falling reliance on state pensions?

by

New data out from the ONS today gives an insight into the changing financial realities of the UK’s retired households. Stretching over 30 years from 1977 to 2010/11, the data paint a picture of rising pensioner income alongside a shift from state to private sources. Private income, such as that from private pensions, employment and … Continued

Spending more on less

by

There has been a lot of discussion of inflation lately, as prices continue their upward march. The consumer trends data out today from ONS gives us an alternative way of looking at inflation. It shows that we are spending more and getting less on essentials like food, housing and transport. This is shown in the … Continued

America’s working women

by

This post originally appeared on Coffee House, The Spectator Blog We know that the growth of women in work has been a significant driver of household income growth in the UK over the last 50 years. In fact, children are now most likely to grow up in poverty in male breadwinner households. Today’s publication of the annual snapshot of … Continued

Back to work? Not if you’re an older carer

by

This blog originally appeared on Public Finance The government’s ambition to extend working lives is coming into direct conflict with the extra caring responsibilities imposed on middle-aged people Last night’s BBC One programme, The Town That Never Retired, sent 70-year-olds back to work. Some fell back in love with work, while others found themselves unable to do … Continued

Tax credit cuts: a false economy

by

This blog originally appeared on Public Finance If the Chancellor wants to help low- to middle-income households, he would be wise not to sacrifice tax credits, by far the most progressive way to help poor families Seventy per cent of April’s new cuts to tax credits will fall on households in the bottom half of … Continued

What works in encouraging saving?

by

This post originally appeared on Left Foot Forward There are many tricks that can be used to encourage more saving – but we don’t know if any of them work. That is the finding from a new report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies. In looking outside classical economics to understand what drives savings, the authors pinpoint four … Continued

Loading
No more posts found