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
Living standards· Labour market· Wealth & assets· Housing· Intergenerational Centre Mortgaged millennials to bitterly cold boomers Assessing the cost of living crisis across generations Monday 14 November 2022 Rising energy bills are with us and rising mortgage bills are on the way. While wages are falling far behind inflation, debates rage about whether benefits or the state pension should do the same. Older workers have not returned to the labour market post-Covid, while younger workers may suffer most from the unemployment rise the … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Budgets & fiscal events· Fiscal policy· Economy and public finances· Economic growth What next? The impact of Trussonomics, tax cuts and market turmoil Thursday 29 September 2022 The last few days have seen a radical reshaping of the Government’s economic policy and a radical reaction from financial markets. Out have gone both Treasury orthodoxy and the legacy of the Johnson premiership, and in are lower taxes, higher borrowing – and higher borrowing costs as spooked markets respond. Will this new strategy boost … Continued READ MORE
Living standards A bleak midwinter? The cost-of-living crisis facing Britain and its new Prime Minister Thursday 1 September 2022 Britain is in the midst of a painful cost-of-living squeeze, with double digit inflation prompting the biggest fall in real wages since the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977. And the crisis will get far worse in the coming months as inflation continues to rise, energy bills soar, and rising interest rates are felt in higher … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Inequality & poverty The long view of living standards What drives income growth and inequality in modern Britain? Monday 4 July 2022 Britain is in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis that is squeezing the incomes of households across the country. That crisis is particularly challenging because it comes against a backdrop of low-income growth and high inequality. Turning these worrying trends around is a key task for the 2020s, with history providing an important guide to … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Labour market· Economy and public finances Catch 2022 What does the end of a global pandemic and the start of a European conflict mean for Britain’s economic outlook? Monday 14 March 2022 The end of the Covid economic crisis is finally in sight. But it has swiftly been replaced by a terrifying conflict in Europe that threatens lives in Ukraine and livelihoods far beyond its borders. The UK’s immediate post-Covid economy thankfully doesn’t include the lengthy dole queues that normally follow a recession. But it instead faces … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· 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· Living standards New year, old pandemic Assessing the politics, economics and epidemiology of 2022 Thursday 13 January 2022 With Omicron cases the only thing rising faster than energy bills, 2022 is off to a difficult start. The pandemic and cost of living pressures will continue to dominate political and economic debates through 2022, but what that means for strains on the NHS and family budgets, or volatile GDP and poll ratings, is hugely … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Prices & consumption Crunch time The causes and consequences of Britain’s cost of living squeeze Wednesday 15 December 2021 A faster than expected economic recovery has evolved into an entirely unexpected cost of living squeeze. Energy bills surges, and hot competition for second hand cars or even Christmas presents, means that household bills are rising more swiftly than workers’ pay packets. Policy matters too, with some families seeing benefit cuts this Autumn, while others … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Budgets & fiscal events· Economy and public finances Budgeting for Britain What the Budget and Spending Review tell us about the Government’s economic strategy Thursday 28 October 2021 Rishi Sunak has had to make a flurry of major fiscal announcements during his 18-months as Chancellor amidst the Covid-19 crisis. At last, with the worse of the crisis behind us, he will hope to be able to set-out an economic plan for post-pandemic Britain in his Budget and Spending Review next Wednesday. However, with … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Living standards· Labour market The final furlough? Family finances in the Covid recovery Thursday 1 July 2021 The UK economy is bouncing back after the deepest downturn in over three centuries. That bounce is being felt in the labour market too, with furlough rates falling and some firms even reporting challenges hiring. However, almost three million people are still not working, while unemployment may rise later in the year. While the UK’s … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Labour market· Brexit & trade· Economic growth The UK’s decisive decade Launch of The Economy 2030 Inquiry Tuesday 18 May 2021 The UK is on the brink of a decade of change. In the 2020s, the country will need to not just recover from Covid-19, but also emerge from the EU, urgently transition towards a Net Zero future, and adapt to transformative technology. Instead of simply being the post-pandemic period, this is the decisive decade in … Continued READ MORE
Social care· Living standards· Welfare Post-pandemic, post-Beveridge? Assessing the case for redesigning the welfare state Thursday 29 April 2021 Millions of us have been supported by social security during the pandemic, which has provided a living standards lifeline amid a deep economic shutdown. But the inadequacy of the UK’s benefit system has also been exposed. The Chancellor had to invent whole new kinds of income protection overnight and boost the basic level of benefits, … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Living standards· Incomes 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· Living standards· Inequality & poverty A standard recovery? The outlook for living standards, poverty and inequality Monday 18 January 2021 2020 was tough for household living standards, even with unprecedented support to increase benefits and pay wages through the Job Retention Scheme. While the start of 2021 looks grim, a swift vaccine roll-out holds out the promise of an economic recovery to come. But this unprecedented crisis may be followed by an abnormal recovery for … 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
Covid-19· Wales· Living standards· Cities and regions From locking down to ‘levelling up’ Wales The past, present and future of Welsh living standards Thursday 5 November 2020 Wales is often absent from Westminster-based discussions around ‘levelling up’, despite household incomes in Wales lagging as far behind the UK average as those in the north of England. But the Welsh government’s policy levers are far stronger than those of English regions, and that status and voice within the UK has become more prominent … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Living standards· Intergenerational Centre Lives, livelihoods and lifestyles The impact of the covid crisis across generations Thursday 8 October 2020 The COVID-19 crisis has cost tens of thousands of lives, millions of people’s livelihoods and upended everyone’s daily life. While younger generations have the lowest health risk from the virus, the Resolution Foundation’s Intergenerational Audit – the first comprehensive assessment of how the crisis has affected different generations across society – will provide fresh analysis … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Living standards Covid-compressed incomes? The past, present and future of crisis-hit living standards Tuesday 21 July 2020 Live interactive webinar. Register to receive access link The coronavirus public health crisis has prompted the biggest economic downturn in a century, the sharpest rise in benefit claims since records began, and a £190 billion policy response. These are big numbers and stark records, but what do they all amount to for the economic measure … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Living standards· Budgets & fiscal events· Economy and public finances The real deal A recovery plan for Britain’s economy Tuesday 7 July 2020 Following a quickfire presentation of a major new RF report on how to support the recovery, we will be hearing the views of Shadow Business Secretary Ed Miliband and former Conservative Cabinet Minister Amber Rudd on the critical question of the recovery. READ MORE
Living standards· Household debt· Pensions & savings· Wealth & assets Weathering the storm How wealth shapes the ability of families to face this economic crisis Monday 22 June 2020 Individual wealth has grown significantly in recent decades, increasing from three- to nearly seven-times GDP since the 1980s. However, neither policy nor politics have kept pace with the scale of this change. The Resolution Foundation has joined the Standard Life Foundation to embark on the three-year project which audits wealth in the UK, helping us … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Living standards· Economy and public finances· Economic growth Building a nation to belong to Preparing for a new post-pandemic economy Thursday 11 June 2020 Live interactive webinar to launch new book ‘The economics of belonging’ by Martin Sandbu. Register to receive access link. In just over a decade, the UK has been hit by two major global recessions with, for too many, little recovery in between. This has exposed long building political, economic and cultural divides – divides that … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Housing Round the houses Will the new decade have any answers to the old question of Britain’s housing crisis? Thursday 30 January 2020 To mark the first edition of its new quarterly housing report, the Resolution Foundation will present new research on a decade of changes in housing, and the consequences for living standards today. An expert panel will join to discuss the issues. READ MORE
Living standards· Tax· Welfare· Political parties and elections The choice facing Britain: What the manifestos reveal Thursday 28 November 2019 The manifestos have been published and the soundbites crafted – now the parties have only a few weeks left to make them land with voters. A few common themes have emerged: austerity is off and the spending taps are on, but there are big differences between the parties in terms of the size and role … Continued READ MORE
Living standards The past, present and future of living standards What drives income growth and inequality across Britain? Wednesday 17 July 2019 At an event at its Westminster offices, the Resolution Foundation marked the launch of its annual Living Standards Audit with a speech by Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP, alongside a presentation of the report’s key findings. READ MORE
