Open for business?

UK trade performance since leaving the EU

by

The overwhelming consensus was that Brexit – which raised trade barriers with the EU – would make the UK less open, less competitive and reduce the size of the economy. The fact that the UK is the only G7 country yet to regain its pandemic level of GDP seemed to corroborate these gloomy predictions. But … Continued

Navigating Economic Change

Lessons from abroad and history

As the UK is buffeted by the economic shocks and challenges of the 2020s, the Resolution Foundation and LSE Economy 2030 Inquiry is publishing a series of essays examining how policy makers from a range of advanced economies, including the UK in the recent past, have managed periods of disruptive economic change.

Minding the (productivity and income) gaps

Decomposing and understanding differences in productivity and income across countries

by

This week’s round of international economic forecasts (from the IMF, Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, and Bank of England) has seen a renewed focus on the UK’s relative economic decline. But while gloomy forecasts about the coming years dominate headlines this expected weak economic growth comes on the back of 15 years of the UK … Continued

Hitting a brick wall

How the UK can upgrade its housing stock to reduce energy bills and cut carbon

by

This briefing note considers how policy makers should square up to one the hardest part of the net zero challenge: insulating the nation’s homes. It highlights an overlooked problem, the 9 million walls that need insulating at considerable costs, and proposes a series of new regulations to ensure progress is made by 2035, lowering carbon emissions and cutting energy bills in the process.

Train in Vain?

Skills, tasks, and training in the UK labour market

by

Human capital and skills are important for improving the UK’s labour market and economic performance. This note assesses how the skills needed in the UK labour market have changed over past decades, and how well placed our system of training – and particularly on-the-job training – is to help us adapt to these changes. Some … Continued

Adopt, adapt and improve

A brief look at the interplay between labour markets and technological change in the UK

by

Worries that jobs will be lost to automation are not new, but have been heightened since the release of Frey and Osborne’s 2013 study, which warned that nearly half of jobs in the US were at ‘high risk’ of automation. Nearly a decade on, this short briefing note looks at both the current and longer-term … Continued

As good as it gets?

The forces driving economic stagnation and what they mean for the decade ahead

by

With inflation at levels not seen since the early 1980s, it is clear that the UK is in the midst of a huge hit to real incomes. But the seeds for the devastating impact of the cost of living crisis were sown by a slump in growth that is unprecedented in the post-war period and … Continued

Stagnation nation

Navigating a route to a fairer and more prosperous Britain

The interim report of The Economy 2030 Inquiry The UK has great strengths, but is over a decade into a period of stagnation. The toxic combination of slow growth and high inequality was posing challenges for low-to-middle income Britain’s living standards even before the post-pandemic cost of living crisis struck. The task of the 2020s … Continued

Power plays

The shifting balance of employer and worker power in the UK labour market

by

This briefing note, part of the Economy 2030 Inquiry, looks at shifts in the balance of worker and employer power in recent decades. It assesses the implications of these shifts for both the level and distribution of wages and highlights worker power as an important part of the UK’s economic strategy in the decade ahead.

Bridging the gap

What would it take to narrow the UK’s productivity disparities?

by

An economic strategy that helps the UK respond to change and tackle stagnant living standards and productivity will need to address the stubborn spatial disparities in economic performance across the UK. Addressing these disparities requires understanding their extent, causes and consequences. This report uses data on regional productivity and area level characteristics to deepen our … Continued

Income outcomes

Assessing income gaps between places across the UK

by

This briefing note uses a relatively under-exploited source of data to analyse how average incomes at the local authority level have changed since 1997. It provides a more complete view of income gaps across the country than has been possible to date, a vital input to the Economy 2030 Inquiry as it seeks to answer the question: how can a new economic strategy address the spatial disparities that have beset the UK for so long?

The Big Brexit

An assessment of the scale of change to come from Brexit

by

Leaving the EU represents the largest change in the UK’s relationship with the rest of the world in nearly half a century. It is a profound change in economic governance, that will reorient production away from trade with the EU and towards the domestic market, impacting people, places and firms across the UK. Understanding the … Continued

Net zero jobs

The impact of the transition to net zero on the UK labour market

by

The Government’s commitment to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will mean investment, and change, across the economy: from the decarbonisation of buildings and surface transport, to shifts in diet, aviation and industry. These changes will affect the UK public, both as consumers and as workers. This briefing note explores the impact that … Continued

Economy 2030
·
Demographics

Big welcomes and long goodbyes

The impact of demographic change in the 2020s

by

It is well known that UK population ageing is set to accelerate in the 2020s. As a result, the discussion around demographic change tends to fixate on the fiscal implications from increased public spending pressures. But demographic change has wider implications for economies – it influences the size and shape of the labour market, demand … Continued

Right Where You Left Me?

Analysis of the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on local economies in the UK

by

Now that the Covid-19 pandemic is largely behind us, this report, part of the Economy 2030 Inquiry, considers what might be the long-term impacts of Covid-19 on spatial inequalities across the UK in key economic outcomes.  In contrast to the initial fears that Covid could permanently damage our cities (by removing office workers, with the … Continued

All over the place

Perspectives on local economic prosperity

by

The place where one is born, educated and works can have a profound bearing on one’s living standards. But how do people who live in different types of places experience their local area and want it to change? In April 2022, we ran four focus groups in Yorkshire and the Humber to explore this question. … Continued

Bouncebackability

The UK corporate sector's recovery from Covid-19

by

UK firms have, like every other part of the economy, faced a huge economic hit from the Covid-19 pandemic. So, a key question is: what is the current state of British firms as we emerge from the pandemic? This matters because the nature and strength of the recovery depends on the health of the UK … Continued

Economy 2030
·
Labour market enforcement

Low Pay Britain 2022

Low pay and insecurity in the UK labour market

by

This edition of Low Pay Britain is our twelfth annual report taking stock of the state of low pay. Recent editions have focused on the short-term impacts of the Covid-19 crisis on low paid workers. Those have largely receded, and so here we take a longer view, and look at how low paid work has … Continued

Growing clean

Identifying and investing in sustainable growth opportunities across the UK

by

This report, the 19th report for The Economy 2030 Inquiry, provides a hard-headed assessment of the opportunities presented to UK plc by the move to net zero, and considers how best these can be unlocked. It does this by considering carefully the UK’s pre-existing relative strengths in technologies, goods and services that are relevant for … Continued

Listen up

Individual experiences of work, consumption and society

by

What economic strategy should the UK pursue over the next decade, in order both to address long-standing problems in the country (stagnating living standards and high inequality) and to navigate ongoing change (Brexit, net zero transition and a post-pandemic world)? The Economy 2030 Inquiry is a two-year collaboration between the Resolution Foundation and the Centre … Continued

Enduring strengths

Analysing the UK’s current and potential economic strengths, and what they mean for its economic strategy, at the start of the decisive decade

by

Key to building a new economic strategy which can revitalise the UK economy after a decade of stagnation is understanding our current strengths, how these strengths evolve, and the trade-offs they present. The report uses global data on trade in goods and services and patenting to uncover where the UK’s relative strengths lie; we study … Continued

Shrinking footprints

The impacts of the net zero transition on households and consumption

by

The 2020s are set to bring a step change in climate policy, with efforts to decarbonise the UK economy beginning to impact on household consumption to a greater extent than before. Different households will be exposed to these changes in different ways, but they will come in two flavours: upfront investment now to deliver savings … Continued

Under pressure

Managing fiscal pressures in the 2020s

by

The 2020s are set to be a decade in which the spending pressures from ageing intensify, healthcare costs continue to rise, and the state needs to invest more to drive a rapid transition to net zero. These trends will play out against the backdrop of a decade of significant economic change that will place further … Continued

A presage to India

Assessing the UK’s new Indo-Pacific trade focus

by

The Government’s trade policy is pivoting to target the fast-growing Indo-Pacific region. The key part of this strategy is a new deal with India. This briefing note explores the implications of this approach finding that it’s something of a gamble with potential rewards coming with big risks.

Social Insecurity

Assessing trends in social security to prepare for the decade of change ahead

by

The UK is facing a decade of unprecedented economic change as we adjust to a post-Covid-19 economy, a new economic context outside the European Union (EU), and the decarbonisation of the economy.  And the social security system has a key role to play in the years ahead: it is part of the policy toolkit for … Continued

Loading
No more publications found