Fewer students, more ill health: the wrong kind of labour-market participation 18 April 2023 by Greg Thwaites Today’s labour market data depicts an expanding workforce, reversing some of the shrinkage we saw during the pandemic. But, like Homer Simpson, it’s expanding and receding in all the wrong places – due to fewer students rather than less long-term sickness. In better news, employment kept rising and unemployment remains low. Public sector pay growth … Continued READ MORE
The benefits of minimum wages and alcohol prices, and minimising pre-payment meters Top of the Charts 31 March 2023 Afternoon all, Happy Trump indictment day everyone. The ‘innocent until proven guilty’ crowd will have to make do with celebrating ‘happy CPTPP accession day’ instead – which doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. You might argue the biggest post-Brexit trade deal is a bigger deal for the UK but I’m not so sure. … Continued READ MORE
Ventures WorkerTech newsletter: March 2023 The latest update from Resolution Ventures 30 March 2023 by Emma Selinger Around 5 million people in the UK do some form of work via digital platforms, so we think it’s really important that platforms providing this type of work are designed to offer fair and decent work to users. Register to join us on Thursday 20th April at our free workshop with Fairwork (experts in equitable labour platforms) … Continued READ MORE
Ventures Resolution Ventures invests in Equal Care Co-operative 28 March 2023 by Emma Selinger We’re delighted to announce that Resolution Ventures has made an investment in Equal Care Co-op as part of the Workertech Partnership. The aim of the Workertech Partnership is to use impact investment to back a new wave of innovators who will harness technology to improve the pay, prospects, power, and progression of low-paid workers. One … Continued READ MORE
Lottery Lovehearts, Bigger Babies and A Living Standards Maelstrom For Mortgagors Top of the Charts 24 March 2023 Afternoon all, It’s been a week of shocks. Boris Johnson can’t handle the truth (or at least gets irritated talking about it) and those making their money via capital gains can very much handle paying lower tax rates than the rest of us. To be fair to the Prime Minister making those very large capital gains, … Continued READ MORE
The Budget and Britain Top of the Charts 17 March 2023 Afternoon all, I’m generally anti banks going bust. Doubly so when the rude things do it in Budget week – there’s quite enough going on already. And trebly when it ended up being a bigger Budget that most expected. But we are where we are. For our comprehensive take on the Budget – the forecasts, … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Labour market offers glimmers of hope for the Chancellor and the Bank 14 March 2023 by Greg Thwaites Today’s labour market statistics show employment has been holding up well in the face of the higher interest rates and the cost of living crisis. Meanwhile, there were encouraging early signs that labour market activity is improving and pay growth generating less inflation – a bit of good news for the Chancellor ahead of Wednesday’s … Continued READ MORE
Net zero· Productivity & industrial strategy· Economy and public finances What Britain should learn from Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act plan Like or loath the ‘protectionist’ Inflation Reduction Act’s green subsidies, America offers an example of strategic thinking 13 March 2023 by Torsten Bell The UK has lost the habit of thinking strategically. Grappling with the constraints imposed by the global and domestic economies — or reality as it is sometimes known — is deeply out of fashion these days. Debates on how the UK might respond to Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and its near $400bn of green … Continued READ MORE
Snazzy snapshots and regional rifts Top of the Charts 10 March 2023 Afternoon all, I for one did not see the Government moving quite so quickly from stopping the boats to stopping the trains. But then again maybe it’s fitting the week managed to squeeze in immigration and HS2 given they have something in common: I’ve lost track of how often I’m told that scrapping (or for that … Continued READ MORE
Dodgy data and malevolent mobiles Top of the Charts 3 March 2023 Afternoon all, Apparently Labour had a very cunning plan – a Sue Gray shaped conspiracy to bring down Boris Johnson. Which will be a surprise to anyone whose paid attention to the “more in common with Baldrick than MI5” Labour Party over recent years. It’s probably also news to the police who dished out fines … Continued READ MORE
Ventures WorkerTech newsletter: February 2023 The latest update from Resolution Ventures 28 February 2023 by Emma Selinger You’ve probably seen a headline or two mention economic inactivity over the past week, with various takes on who is affected and how to solve the problem. Someone who is economically inactive is a person of working age who is not in work, not looking for work, and is not in education. In this newsletter I’m sharing Resolution … Continued READ MORE
Labour market· Childcare· Welfare Mums hold the key to getting Britain working again Boosting workforce participation in the 2020s 25 February 2023 by Louise Murphy Britain has built up a lot of economic problems over the past 15 years – weak investment and productivity growth, contributing to an unprecedented pay squeeze and stagnating living standards. But there has been one metric at which we have excelled – getting more people into work. Sadly this success story has been undone somewhat since the … Continued READ MORE
Fridgeonomics and why the early bird fails the exam Top of the Charts 24 February 2023 Afternoon all, Have I got this right? The same people that did the Brexit deal, the fundamental choice of which was to sell out Unionism, have now decided it was terrible because of what it did to Unionists? AND they’re attacking Rishi Sunak for trying to fix it? Britain might not have any tomatoes but … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Concerning rise in NEETs driven by uptick in youth unemployment New ONS figures show a sharp rise in the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training 23 February 2023 by Louise Murphy This morning, the ONS published new figures outlining the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). Overall, 788,000 16-24-year-olds (11.5 per cent) found themselves NEET in the last three months of 2022. And there has been a sharp rise in the number of young people who are NEET in … Continued READ MORE
Squeezing in more neighbours and sourcing out more childcare Top of the Charts 17 February 2023 Afternoon all, Our labour market inactivity problem has got serious, arriving at the centre of British politics, with Nicola Sturgeon resigning and Labour attempting to involuntarily resign Jeremy Corbyn. Amid that chaos you probably missed another Tory MP’s jumping on the ‘no way I’m standing at the next election’ bandwagon. The Government’s probably minutes away from … Continued READ MORE
Labour market· Pay Good news in the latest labour market data for the Bank and the Chancellor, but bad news for the general public 14 February 2023 by Hannah Slaughter and Nye Cominetti This morning’s labour market stats bring good news and bad news. An uptick in workforce participation is good news for everyone, while signs of weakening pay pressure might ease the Bank of England’s inflation concerns. But a wider cooling of demand (seen in falling vacancies, and rising unemployment and redundancies) don’t bode well for workers. … Continued READ MORE
Boom scrolling, bitcoin bashing and dodging difficult policy choices Top of the Charts 10 February 2023 Afternoon all, We did it! Well done Britain avoiding a recession in 2022 with growth in the fourth quarter of… 0.014 per cent. This is what success getting over the line by the skin of your teeth looks like. Just to ensure we don’t get at all perked up by the no recession news, the ONS put out … Continued READ MORE
Economy 2030 The UK economy has recovered from doom and recession before – and it can do so again The prize for achieving stronger growth is huge 7 February 2023 by Krishan Shah The national economic debate is at its least illuminating when it descends into a form of sports reporting – with arguments about who’s up, who’s down, and who’s winning and losing. And thanks to a slew of economic forecasts – from the IMF and central banks in the US, Eurozone and the UK – this … Continued READ MORE
BBC bashing and boozing around Britain Top of the Charts 3 February 2023 Afternoon all, It’s “we might be nearly done hiking these interest rates” week, which is quite a big deal in economics (and anxious mortgagor) land. We’ve got lucky on gas prices (well, less unlucky) and labour markets are starting to cool without massive recessions. Obviously we’re Britain in 2023, so that generally good news has … Continued READ MORE
Ventures WorkerTech newsletter: January 2023 The latest update from Resolution Ventures 31 January 2023 by Emma Selinger Are you a founder of a social business, or have an idea for one you’d like to start? We’re partnering with Shift Design to interview founders or aspiring founders to help us improve the way we support entrepreneurs to develop their business ideas and access early-stage investment. Participants will receive a thank you of £50 for 90 minutes … Continued READ MORE
Pensions & savings· Wealth & assets· Intergenerational Centre Britain’s inheritance boom could further decouple people’s retirement age from their state pension age It’s inheritance and where you live which are the barriers to retirement 31 January 2023 by Molly Broome The UK’s state pension age is going up – and perhaps faster than expected. The age at which you can draw the state pension is due to rise from 66 to 67 by 2028. And the Government is now reportedly considering bringing forward the rise to 68 from 2046 to the 2030s, as part of … Continued READ MORE
Turning up the heat on housing, economic growth and rice Top of the Charts 27 January 2023 Afternoon all, All the best people are having their away days right now – looking forward to ours on Monday. On the downside, we don’t get to head to Chequers or any other country estate for it. But then again none of us are going to have to resign pretty soon afterwards. So that’s a plus. Don’t … Continued READ MORE
Ventures· Social care Social Care Roundtable 27 January 2023 by Emma Selinger In 2021-22, more than one-in-ten frontline care jobs in England were vacant, up from fewer than one-in-twenty in 2012-13, with 68 per cent of current care workers saying they work under a high degree of tension. The Resolution Foundation has been exploring different aspects of the problems in the care sector, to identify what can … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Inequality & poverty Growing inequality across Britain has left millions of families exposed to the cost-of-living crisis 25 January 2023 by Lalitha Try Today, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published their data on household incomes and inequality for 2021-22; this is the first source of official data on household incomes for that year. 2021-22 was an eventful year. It began with the UK emerging out of major restrictions on everyday life, but by October 2021, all Covid-19 … Continued READ MORE
Pensions & savings· Wealth & assets Expand the Help to Save scheme to help the poorest 24 January 2023 by Jack Leslie It would be hard to miss the fact that the UK economy is currently in bad shape. A 40-year high in inflation, falling incomes and ever more industrial action are just some of the features of today’s Britain. But these problems have been made worse by a too often overlooked issue: many families do not … Continued READ MORE
