Analysis and action on living standards
Understanding the prevalence of part-time work among low-paid workers in the UK
As the UK is buffeted by the economic shocks and challenges of the 2020s, the Resolution Foundation and LSE Economy 2030 Inquiry is publishing a series of essays examining how policy makers from a range of advanced economies, including the UK in the recent past, have managed periods of disruptive economic change. As we seek to reformulate the UK’s economic strategy for new times it is vital that we learn the lessons of these comparative and historic perspectives.
The Resolution Foundation is an independent think-tank focused on improving living standards for those on low to middle incomes. We work across a wide range of economic and social policy, combining our core purpose with a commitment to analytical rigour.
This year’s Audit zeros in on shorter-term changes and differences between generations, analysing how the cost of living crisis has to date and will continue to be experienced by different age groups. Overall, we find that older age groups are more exposed to rising energy prices, as they are more likely to live in larger and less energy efficient homes. But decades of low pay growth, higher housing costs and high and rising intergenerational wealth inequality means that the young are far less likely to have a ‘savings buffer’ to cover unexpected or higher costs.
This report provides Resolution Foundation’s overnight analysis of the 2022 Autumn Statement, during which Jeremy Hunt combined the ‘tough choices’ rhetoric of George Osborne and the policies of Gordon Brown. In the face of grim economic – and grimmer fiscal – forecasts, he announced energy support today but tougher times tomorrow, with huge stealth tax rises for the middle and top of the income distribution followed by far less concrete spending cuts pencilled in for after the next election.
The Resolution Foundation calculates the real Living Wage – a voluntary hourly pay rate that is based on what families need to get by. The current national rate is:
Resolution Ventures exists to back innovative start-ups seeking to change the world of work for the better and early-stage ventures seeking to improve the prospects of low-to-middle income Britain.
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In our twelfth annual edition of Low Pay Britain, we take stock of how low paid work has changed over the past two decades during the existence of the minimum wage in the UK.
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