Economy 2030· Incomes· Prices & consumption· Wellbeing and mental health Whose economy? Exploring people’s experiences as workers, consumers and citizens Wednesday 11 May 2022 …by a cost of living crisis, the aftermath of Covid and Brexit, and the net zero transition – gets underway. How do workers feel about their jobs? What holds them… READ MORE
Incomes· Living standards· Economic growth Are you better off today? Real income growth under different governments since 1955 3 November 2021 by Adam Corlett …a period of relatively steady growth over much of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.1 More recently, it also shows the shocks of the financial crisis, the post-Brexit-referendum inflation spike, and… READ MORE
Universal Credit· Incomes· Living standards· Prices & consumption· Welfare The big squeeze Assessing the changes to family incomes over the next six months 26 September 2021 by Karl Handscomb …2014 and immediately after the Brexit referendum (see Figure 1). Figure 1: Inflation is set to erode the real value of earnings this winter and beyond Moreover, there are… READ MORE
Covid-19· Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty New data shows households were struggling even before coronavirus 26 March 2020 by Adam Corlett …fall in 2017-18. These are figures not normally seen outside periods of recession and reflect the high inflation seen following the Brexit vote. So, the coronavirus recession is arriving only… READ MORE
Covid-19· Incomes· Living standards· Prices & consumption Family spending before the coronavirus crisis helps us to understand its potential impact 23 March 2020 by Fahmida Rahman …stagnation in consumption, in part due to two years’ worth of Brexit-induced uncertainty, is likely get much worse as the economic impacts of coronavirus play out over the rest of… READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty Charting the UK’s lost decade of income growth 5 March 2020 by Adam Corlett …and the period of high inflation that followed the Brexit vote: a double whammy for household finances. The long march of pensioner living standards progress Of course, these averages hide… READ MORE
Incomes· Low pay· Labour market· Pay Feel poor, work more – the real reason behind Britain’s record employment 13 November 2019 by Torsten Bell …the crash – or because post-crisis and pre-Brexit uncertainty means they’d rather take on workers that can quickly be shed, than machines that they’d be stuck with. But an increase… READ MORE
Incomes· Living standards· Prices & consumption· Inequality & poverty· Welfare The benefit freeze has ended, but erosion of the social security safety net continues Expected benefit uprating in April 2020 16 October 2019 by Adam Corlett …post-Brexit boost to living standards. Alternatively, the government might be forced to act by a recession. Whatever the cause of that recession, benefit increases would likely need to be an… READ MORE
Incomes· Tax· Political parties and elections Tax cuts for the rich is not the answer to the questions 21st century Britain is asking 10 June 2019 by Torsten Bell …Further widening the gap between the rich and poor is an odd lesson to draw from the UK’s experience of financial crisis and Brexit. The policy detail also risks running… READ MORE
Incomes· Living standards· Inequality & poverty Last year saw living standards stagnate and poverty rise 28 March 2019 by Adam Corlett …But if they can ever finish debating Brexit, they should consider what course they’d like poverty to take in the 2020s and how exactly they intend to achieve that. … READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Economy and public finances As growth slows UK households have already taken a £1,500 living standards hit since the referendum 11 February 2019 by Torsten Bell …not just the fact of Brexit dragging on growth and incomes. The long-run impact of Brexit on our economy will of course depend on what we eventually agree by way… READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Labour market How to get family incomes growing again 16 April 2018 by Torsten Bell …is that some economic shocks can feed through very quickly indeed into our wages. In cases where Britain is either the only country affected by a shock (Brexit) or particularly… READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty· Brexit & trade We’re getting poorer, but it’s not (just) Brexit 6 October 2017 by Matthew Whittaker …parts of the UK’s economy – from productivity to housing to skills – would have been the central challenge even in the absence of Brexit. Delivering Brexit is an additional… READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes Incomes are falling, placing our economic growth on borrowed time 30 June 2017 by Matthew Whittaker …given the centrality of the issue to both the Brexit vote and the general election, that should include politicians – this week has been a bumper one for data. We’ve… READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty· Cities and regions When it comes to living standards, geography matters 24 May 2017 by Matthew Whittaker …UK households since the financial crisis of 2008. But the distribution of gains and losses matters too – especially in the context of a vote for Brexit that reportedly exposed… READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes For low income families, the next four years could be worse than the recession 16 May 2017 by Adam Corlett …just what Brexit really means. But the official Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts for pay, prices and employment are as comprehensive as it gets, and they’re what Chancellors set their… READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Political parties and elections Walking the walk on backing low and middle income households 12 May 2017 by Torsten Bell …what they’d do about it. This election is, we are told, all about Brexit. Except it shouldn’t be. Yes there are huge questions to be answered over the next five… READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty Let’s avoid a poor rerun of the 1980s 1 February 2017 by Torsten Bell …or by Brexit despite what some may argue. Instead it’s driven by policy choices – the tax and benefit plans inherited by Theresa May from David Cameron. Significant working age… READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty Living Standards 2017: the past, present and possible future of UK incomes 31 January 2017 by Adam Corlett and Stephen Clarke …can help support even more people into work, and begin to address the country’s chronic productivity problem. These things, alongside the handling of Brexit negotiations, should be government’s focus for… READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty Inequality has reached a 30-year low. So should we still care? 10 January 2017 by Matthew Whittaker …growth we’ve been used to in previous times. This picture chimes with our analysis of the Brexit vote. Alongside demographic and cultural factors, we found that economic considerations played into… READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Prices & consumption· Economy and public finances Theresa May needs to spread the jam more thickly 25 November 2016 by Matthew Whittaker …a jammy dodger. Inevitably the headlines were grabbed by the OBR’s assessment of what Brexit means for the economic outlook over the rest of this decade. With the price tag… READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty The “just managing” need deeds, not words 15 October 2016 by Laura Gardiner Theresa May has identified the fortunes of “just about managing” working families as her priority in post-Brexit Britain. A new government’s rhetoric precedes real outcomes against which it can be… READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Housing· Welfare The 14p stealth tax rise that is hammering ‘just managing families’ 30 September 2016 by Torsten Bell …this measure how does the first three months of Theresa May’s government measure up? First and foremost of course this government is about delivering Brexit. But, just this once, let’s… READ MORE
Incomes· Economic growth Elephants, globalisation, and why we shouldn’t let domestic policy makers off the hook on living standards 13 September 2016 by Torsten Bell …same trade deal between the EU and USA that Obama champions. The British Labour Party faces the challenge of redefining its vision of Britain’s role in a post-Brexit world. Owen… READ MORE
