From striver alert to future cuts: five things to expect from the Autumn Statement

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This post originally appeared on Gavin’s New Statesman blog In the Autumn Statement there will be a blizzard of facts, figures, assertions and counter-assertions. There have been a few helpful pointers on what lto ook out for (try this and this), and I’ve already given my tuppence worth on what may happen to the faltering fiscal rules. But here are a … Continued

Is underemployment the new normal?

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This post originally appeared on the Huffington Post Today’s ONS release confirms the scale of the rise in underemployment. More than one in ten workers are now underemployed, working fewer hours than they would like to – a million more than in 2008. Recently, this increase has run hand in hand with a flat-lining of overall unemployment, as … Continued

The squeeze on earnings continues

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The ONS 2012 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings release that came out this morning reveals that median real wages have fallen between 2010-11 and 2011-12. Median gross annual earnings for full-time employees were £26,500 for the tax year ending 5 April 2012, an increase of 1.4 percent from the previous year. But over the … Continued

Part-time work: two sides to every story

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A glance at the labour market statistics will tell you that there’s a lot of involuntary underemployment. The number of people in this position –working few hours or in lower-skilled jobs for lack of finding something more suitable – is worryingly high and has been for some time. At the start of 2008, 1 million people … Continued

Clegg’s Score-draw on Women’s Work

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This post originally appeared on the Huffington Post The coalition recognised long ago it has a major problem with women. This morning’s speech from the deputy prime pinister was one of the first major attempts to address this challenge through policy. The speech, drawing heavily on the Resolution Foundation report The Missing Million, looked at how to raise female employment through … Continued

Where next for the living wage? Progress on low pay is imperative

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This post originally appeared on the New Statesman blog   Tomorrow marks the start of the first Living Wage week. It is tangible proof that, 11 years after a small broad-based East London community alliance revived an idea first forged in the industrial heartlands of 1870s Britain, momentum for increased living wage coverage continues to gather pace. And … Continued

What impact will extra childcare support have for working parents?

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The final report of the Commission on Living Standards, a broad group of leading employers, trade unionists, economists and heads of parents’ groups brought together by the independent think-tank the Resolution Foundation, was launched on Wednesday. A key recommendation put forward in the report was to extend the Early Years Entitlement (EYE) of 15 free hours of childcare … Continued

The politics of childcare are heating up. Here’s why

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This post originally appeared on Gavin’s New Statesman blog Often an issue only gets the attention it deserves due to a shift in the wider political context.  And so it may be with our creaking childcare system. Despite unprecedented increases in public support – and major improvements – it’s still the case that during the Labour years childcare … Continued

When a growing economy still feels bad

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This post orginally appeared on Coffeehouse David Cameron was right; the good news has kept on coming. This morning’s first estimate from the ONS puts GDP growth in the third quarter at 1.0 percent. Cue much justified squabbling over what the ‘real’ number is. A significant portion of this growth will be a one-off, post-Jubilympics bounce-back, suggesting slower … Continued

A falling reliance on state pensions?

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New data out from the ONS today gives an insight into the changing financial realities of the UK’s retired households. Stretching over 30 years from 1977 to 2010/11, the data paint a picture of rising pensioner income alongside a shift from state to private sources. Private income, such as that from private pensions, employment and … Continued

George Osborne’s strivers have a shock in store

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Beware politicians serving up easy distinctions to please and appease their party faithful. This week at the Conservative conference, the favoured divide was between “strivers and shirkers“, a refinement of one of the oldest tropes in politics – the deserving and undeserving poor. Devices like these generally work far better in the conference hall than they … Continued

Spending more on less

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There has been a lot of discussion of inflation lately, as prices continue their upward march. The consumer trends data out today from ONS gives us an alternative way of looking at inflation. It shows that we are spending more and getting less on essentials like food, housing and transport. This is shown in the … Continued

Matthew Whittaker

Dragging us all down

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This post originally appeared on Public Finance Unemployment is one of a number of factors keeping a lid on pay levels in both the public and private sectors With so little to cheer in the British economy in recent years, the steady fall in unemployment since the turn of the year has been seized on as … Continued

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