Labour market· Skills The post-levy Apprenticeship regime is finally taking shape 27 January 2019 by Kathleen Henehan Another year, another round of worries about the impact of the Apprenticeship Levy. Are the number of starts continuing to fall; are they all being converted to MBA-level courses; and will there be further changes to the levy? Last year, the stock answer to these questions was “wait and see.” But, as we approach the … Continued READ MORE
Time is money – whether you’re in Davos or Daventry Top of the Charts 25 January 2019 Afternoon all, Everyone’s off to Davos. Okay, not everyone – but a surprising number of white men have converged on one snowy village. But before you get all high and mighty, it’s not all chief execs and politicos – these days the World Economic Forum has gone downmarket enough to include royalty of the actual … 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
Labour market· Pay Tight labour market breaks new ground on jobs 22 January 2019 by Stephen Clarke The UK labour market continues to confound. It seemed as though the seven year spurt in employment that began in late 2012 had come to an end in 2018. The number of people in work barely increased in the summer of last year and even fell in the three months to August. However, unlike many … Continued READ MORE
How Trump’s America can solve our crisis on the homefront Top of the Charts 18 January 2019 Afternoon all, It’s been an action packed week – with lots of chat but not many answers. So to help things along we’ve got a concrete suggestion. You may have heard we’ve got a civil servant CRISIS. 10,000 are already working on Brexit – but another 5,000 are needed. Department of Education staff are being … 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
Wealth & assets· Tax How wealth taxes can raise billions more without scaring any horses 3 January 2019 by Torsten Bell and Adam Corlett Raising taxes is never easy. Raising taxes with the government’s slim parliamentary majority is harder still. Raising taxes on wealth in those circumstances, given our diverging senses of fairness is… not a walk in the park. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t need doing, and the good news is that significant progress can be made … Continued READ MORE