Growth in the UK remains tepid. Forecasts from the OBR suggest growth in 2012 of just 0.7% and many commentators believe that this is optimistic. Such low levels of growth come with continued high unemployment and an unsurprising squeeze on living standards as families are forced to tighten their budgets and to pay down debt. But this is not just a question of the recession. Countries across the west have seen stagnating median wages and large changes in the nature of labour and product markets which have all had impacts on living standards. In the face of structural and cyclical changes, this event will ask what the outlook for living standards might be and what role Government should play.
