Incomes· Cities and regions The pay postcode lottery What is driving Britain’s place-based wage divides? Monday 23 June 2025 Britain is racked by pay divides – on gender, race, age and education status. But one of its starkest inequalities centres on geography, which is far more complex than Londoners earning more than everyone else. But while regional pay inequality is widely discussed, what drives these divides is less well understood. And that really matters if we’re to tackle these inequalities. READ MORE
Incomes· Low pay· Living Wage Minimum wage, maximum pressure Assessing short-term impacts and long-term plans for the UK’s wage floor Monday 31 March 2025 The minimum wage has been a big success story since its introduction in 1998 – but 2025 might be its trickiest year yet. The combination of increases to employer National Insurance and a bigger-than-expected 6.7 per cent rise in the National Living Wage has left businesses warning of jobs cuts and hiring freezes. Such warnings haven’t come to pass in the past, but with the jobs market already in recession territory, might this year be different? It is amidst this uncertainty and challenging backdrop that the Government will need set out a longer-term plan for the minimum wage. READ MORE
Incomes· Pay Unpredictable earnings The volatility of pay packets and its impact on living standards Tuesday 4 March 2025 Most people are used to receiving regular monthly pay cheques, hopefully with the occasional bonus and an annual rise. But while this is often taken for granted, for other workers the size and timing of their pay cheques are far more volatile – with knock on effects on their ability to pay bills, save, plan ahead and smooth their living standards over time. But with Brits notoriously adverse to talking about pay, the scale of earnings volatility across the country is unknown. READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Prices & consumption Rising rents and rebounding wages Where is Britain’s cost-of-living crisis heading? Thursday 14 December 2023 Inflation is down, but Britain’s cost-of-living crisis is still very much with us. The legacy of previous price rises for energy and food are now combining with a new pressure: housing. Private rents are rising at their fastest rate in over a decade, while the impact of higher interest rates is still feeding through into … Continued READ MORE
Economy 2030· Incomes· Productivity & industrial strategy· Labour market Risk reduction Can earnings insurance underpin a more dynamic jobs market and a more productive economy? Thursday 21 September 2023 Losing your job in Britain can be a very expensive business. Low and flat rate benefits leave many workers facing huge income falls if they face a period out of work. This gives them a strong incentive to take a new job quickly – but not necessarily the best fit for their talents. And it … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Prices & consumption Still coping? How families are faring as the cost-of-living crisis enters its second year Thursday 27 April 2023 The UK’s cost-of-living crunch has entered its second year. While inflation should fall significantly in the coming months, the crisis is far from over. Prices are rising more slowly rather than falling. And the significant government support provided last year is being scaled back, while fast rising interest rates will affect more and more homeowners … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Prices & consumption· Inequality & poverty New year, renewed squeeze? The outlook for living standards in 2023 and beyond Monday 9 January 2023 Britain’s cost-of-living crisis has been brutal this winter – even with significant government support – as bills rise and real wages fall. Inflation should ease in the year ahead, but government support is also being scaled back and rising interest rates will feed through into higher mortgage costs. The outlook is highly uncertain. How are … Continued READ MORE
Economy 2030· Incomes Mind the gap (part I) How do people’s incomes differ across the UK? Monday 27 June 2022 People’s incomes are fundamental to their living standards, and closing regional income gaps is central to levelling up the UK. But there are many moving parts to household incomes, they play very different roles across the country, and there are big gaps in what official statistics tell us about this crucial question. An economic strategy … Continued READ MORE
Economy 2030· Incomes· Prices & consumption· Wellbeing and mental health Whose economy? Exploring people’s experiences as workers, consumers and citizens Wednesday 11 May 2022 We all experience the economy in a myriad of different ways – from the jobs we do, to the things we buy and the communities we live in. The good, the bad and the ugly of those experiences are important considerations, not just for individual economic policy decisions, but in setting the objectives of our … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Living standards· Prices & consumption Crunch time The Living Standards Outlook for 2022 Tuesday 8 March 2022 The good news is that Britain is finally stepping out of the pandemic. The bad news is that it is stepping straight into a renewed living standards squeeze which, according to the latest Bank of England forecasts, could be the tightest one in generations. Prices, bills and taxes are all going up, and wages aren’t … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Incomes· Living standards Covid Comparisons How household finances have been hit across the UK, France and Germany Wednesday 21 April 2021 The Covid-19 pandemic has been a truly global crisis but, while every country has been affected, not all have been affected equally. Individual countries have taken different approaches to tackling the virus, and protecting workers and families from its economic impacts. Crucially households entered this crisis with very different levels of financial resilience in different … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Incomes· Macroeconomic policy Coronanomics: Challenges from the distributional impact of the crisis Friday 11 December 2020 While the health implications of the COVID-19 crisis have fallen overwhelmingly on older generations, the economic fallout has fallen heavily on the young and those on lower incomes. Given the highly uneven impact of the crisis, policymakers face huge challenges in preventing the crisis from creating new inequalities and exacerbating existing ones. In this webinar, … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Living standards· Incomes Coping with the crunch COVID-19’s impact on household incomes, savings and debt Monday 16 November 2020 The spring lockdown caused the biggest short-term income shock since the mid-1970s, with better off households seeing their savings rise while lower income families took on more debt. But this pandemic has now had eight months to run, with more difficult months ahead as the Government tightens restrictions across the country. Policy makers need a … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Inequality & poverty· Wealth & assets The hidden rise (and fall?) of the Top 1% Live online panel discussion Thursday 21 May 2020 For decades the incomes of the Top 1 per cent pulled away from the rest of society, before crashing back down in the 2008 financial crisis. But what has happened since then? Unfortunately, data on the incomes of the very rich often does a bad job of assessing how much they really receive, with capital … Continued READ MORE
