Saving the world, one research paper at time 21 June 2019 Afternoon all, Yesterday we learnt that it’s Johnson vs Hunt. Gung ho vs reluctant no dealing. Everyone’s understandably focused on the odds of no deal rising. But they are missing the real risk to our international reputation – an outside chance that PMQs descends into a weekly row between two blokes called Jeremy. Some things … Continued READ MORE
Prices & consumption· Intergenerational Centre Life as a millennial is far less extravagant than you might think 20 June 2019 by Laura Gardiner When economists and policy makers talk about living standards they think in terms of real (equivalised) household disposable incomes (before or after housing costs). This is a good approach to take, but it’s not how most people think. A more common way is to think about how much money you have to spend on goods … Continued READ MORE
Making our children and grandchildren proud Top of the Charts 7 June 2019 Afternoon all, There’s been a lot to think about this week – how politics can really matter, and about how the big decisions we take can shape the future for generations to come. Theresa May might be standing down as Tory leader today, but she had a good week representing the country in D-Day commemorations on … Continued READ MORE
Labour market· Housing· Intergenerational Centre Britain has become a less mobile nation – why? 6 June 2019 by Torsten Bell Donald Trump tells us there are no protesters. He says it so often, he probably believes it. Which is worrying, but also fairly normal. There are stories we hear so often that we simply assume they are true. Here’s one. Our communities are changing ever faster as more and more people move around for work, … Continued READ MORE
Labour market· Housing· Intergenerational Centre Young people are no longer footloose and fancy free – and rent rises are to blame 6 June 2019 by Lindsay Judge Millennials, eh? They never stand still. Always on the move, with their ‘portfolio careers’, side hustles in the gig economy, and no loyalty to the companies they work for. With an attitude like that, it’s no wonder they struggle to find decent work and pay. There’s only one problem with this common trope though. It’s … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Union membership is rising again – but will it last? 31 May 2019 by Daniel Tomlinson In 2018 the Trades Union Congress (TUC) celebrated its 150th birthday. Yesterday the government delivered a somewhat belated birthday present to the union movement in the form of new statistics showing that membership levels have risen significantly for the first time in almost two decades. Happy birthday TUC! In this short blog post, we provide … Continued READ MORE
Low pay· Labour market· Pay· Living Wage Britain can afford an even higher minimum wage – but we need to tread carefully 30 May 2019 by Nye Cominetti Britain has long had a low pay problem. For most of the last two decades around one in five workers has been in low-paid work – earning less than two-thirds of the typical hourly pay – at any given time. This is a massive problem given how hard it can be to escape low pay. … Continued READ MORE
Labour market· Pay· Intergenerational Centre Wrong time, wrong place – leaving education in the middle of a downturn 13 May 2019 by David Willetts Modern economies are supposed to deliver improving living standards – incrementally year-on-year, with big gains decade-on-decade. That is why it is so shocking that a 30-year-old today earns no more than a 30-year-old a decade ago, according to previous research by the Resolution Foundation’s Intergenerational Commission. This is an earnings freeze on a scale unprecedented … Continued READ MORE
Labour market· Pay· Intergenerational Centre Coming of age during a downturn can cause scarring – and it takes up to a decade to heal 13 May 2019 by Stephen Clarke Recessions are bad for people’s standard of living. And they’re particularly bad for young people. That’s the painful lesson we learnt after the 1980s recession where, for most of that decade, at least one in seven people under 30 were unemployed. We know a lot about the unemployment scarring of the 1980s – from the … Continued READ MORE
Top tips to be the next Guvnor Top of the Charts 26 April 2019 Afternoon all, Refreshed from your Easter break? Want a new challenge? How about stewarding the UK economy as the Bank of England’s next Governor. You’ll probably get to steer us through Brexit, and more definitely through the next recession (see this week’s Chart of the Week). All yours for £480k. If you’re up for it, … Continued READ MORE
Housing We need cash for social housing – but honesty and answers too 8 April 2019 by Torsten Bell and Resolution Foundation Analysis Housing has returned to British politics. Falls in home ownership have driven it there, but in so doing opened up a much needed debate about a long neglected issue: renting. Too often in recent decades the background assumption of housing policy has been that social renting is a declining tenure, and private renting a temporary … Continued READ MORE
Pensions & savings· Wealth & assets· Intergenerational Centre More ambition, less risk – building on the success of auto-enrolment 4 April 2019 by David Willetts and Laura Gardiner We often find it harder to celebrate policy successes than decry policy failures. So you might have missed a policy success which we are marking this week. We are about to have completed the successful initial rolling-out of automatic enrolment into occupational pension saving. Millions of employees will enjoy higher living standards in retirement as … Continued READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Public spending· Inequality & poverty· Economy and public finances Is rising inequality helping to swell the coffers for Fortunate Phil? 12 March 2019 by Torsten Bell Fortunate Phil is not what the Chancellor generally gets called. But as he prepares for tomorrow’s Spring Statement, Philip Hammond – despite facing what looks like headline bad news – has at least some reasons to be grateful for good luck on both the economic and political fronts. The Treasury is gearing up for the … Continued READ MORE
How to look after our towns, trade and toddlers Top of the Charts 8 March 2019 Afternoon all, Spring is spung. Or at least the Spring Statement is springing forth next Wednesday. It’s likely to be sandwiched between rather important Brexit votes, so don’t expect the usual media focus. But it’s worth thinking about what we should be discussing. To put it another way…. Imagine there’s no countries Brexit rows. It … Continued READ MORE
Labour market· Childcare· Welfare How big is the gender parenting gap, and is it improving? 8 March 2019 by Adam Corlett A lot has been written about the gender pay gap, with the typical hourly pay of women in full-time work 9 per cent below that of men – down from 17 per cent two decades ago. But there is another gap lying behind the gender pay gap that gets far less attention, despite being just … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Inequality & poverty· Social mobility To understand inequality, we need to understand its intersections too 6 March 2019 by Fahmida Rahman and Matthew Whittaker Inequality has been moving up the political agenda in recent years. Public concern about the issue is at record levels. Politicians across the spectrum – from Theresa May’s emphasis on the ‘burning injustice’ faced by many in modern Britain, to Jeremy Corbyn’s lamentation of the ‘grotesque inequality’ that characterises the UK and other rich countries … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Living standards· Inequality & poverty What does new ONS data tell us about incomes and inequality? 26 February 2019 by Adam Corlett Today we got the first solid data about household incomes in 2017-18. Unfortunately, the figures today confirm fears that 2017-18 was not a great year for living standards progress. (Though note that the bigger sister to this release, which will give us even better data, especially on poverty, will be out at the end of … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Living standards· 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 Today we learnt that economic growth slowed significantly at the end of 2018, with GDP only growing by 0.2 per cent in the last three months of the year. This is around a third of the pre-crisis average rate. In December alone, the economy contracted by 0.4 per cent with the manufacturing sector now having … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Prices & consumption Five key takeaways on UK household spending 25 January 2019 by Laura Gardiner Yesterday the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published its annual rundown of what UK households spend their money on. Quite a bit of the ONS’s analysis focused on who spends most on takeaways. But given household consumption is perhaps the most detailed and direct window on current living standards, there’s plenty more of interest in … Continued READ MORE
Housing The one million missing homes? 12 January 2019 by Lindsay Judge The relationship between housing supply and demand is always going to be of interest to those (like us) who care about living standards and housing costs. The ONS household figures published last month have prompted us to think more about this topic, especially given the new data suggests fewer households will form over the next … Continued READ MORE
High taxes, low returns and putting Manchester in charge of Brexit Top of the Charts 11 January 2019 Afternoon all, Yes we’ve got some thugs on the streets and constitutional uproar in the Commons. I can see how this feels a bit suboptimal. But you’re seeing this all wrong. Messy politics and scandals are really the foundation of our true national purpose – making surprisingly good TV. You can’t get the Brexit you … Continued READ MORE
Welfare Yellow jackets Top of the Charts 4 January 2019 Afternoon all, Welcome to 2019, a year which seems to have decided to use its first week to remind us that we are an island nation. I’ve not seen much news in recent days, but from the headlines I gather we’re spending our time stopping some actual boats crossing the Channel while paying a few … Continued READ MORE
Labour market 2018’s lesson for its successor – look beneath the headlines Top of the Charts 28 December 2018 Morning all, Well survived Christmas. Just New Year to go. You can do it. To help prep for next week and the need for more creative New Year’s resolutions than eat nothing/drink nothing/run miles we’ve got a special edition of Top of the Charts below. It looks back at 2018, digging under the headlines to … Continued READ MORE
Welfare Boosting benefit take-up is critical to the success of Universal Credit, but we might not be able to measure whether it’s working 20 December 2018 by George Bangham and Adam Corlett Benefit take-up rates matter. A lot. If households aren’t actually receiving the benefits that government policy entitles them to, their incomes will be lower and the social safety net will not work as intended. The government’s own estimates of benefits take-up suggest that billions of pounds worth of benefits probably go unclaimed each year. Take-up … Continued READ MORE
Welfare Three steps to make it a happier new year for Universal Credit 18 December 2018 by Laura Gardiner Universal Credit (UC) was a surprise contender for one of the big stories of the Budget, with the Chancellor announcing a welcome reinjection of cash into the system. UC has (finally) hit another important milestone too – as of December 2018, it is on offer to all new claimants of working-age benefits in jobcentres across … Continued READ MORE
