Work Get A Move On? The decline in regional job-to-job moves and its impact on productivity and pay 15 August 2017 by Stephen Clarke This briefing note looks at how economically-driven internal migration has changed in the UK over the past two decades. There has been a significant decline in the share of people moving region and employer since it reached a high at the turn of the millennium, partly this is cyclical, but it is also the result … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Inequality & poverty· Mobility Diverse outcomes: living standards by ethnicity 7 August 2017 by Adam Corlett This briefing note looks at how typical household incomes have differed by ethnicity, given that around one fifth of the population self-report their ethnicity as something other than White British. While not an attempt to offer comprehensive analysis, we also explore some of the causes, including differences in the labour market, pointing to the need for further work. READ MORE
Incomes· Inequality & poverty The living standards audit 2017 15 July 2017 by Adam Corlett and Daniel Tomlinson and Stephen Clarke In this report we provide the first comprehensive look at the living standards of UK households in the year leading up to the 2017 general election, as well as a detailed look at the trends in living standards over the previous two decades. The years since the financial crisis have been far from an easy … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Firms· Growth· Cities and regions A rising tide lifts all boats? Advanced industries and their impact upon living standards 10 July 2017 by Stephen Clarke and Neil Lee Policy makers in Westminster, devolved administrations, cities and local authorities struggle with many of the same challenges. Encouraging economic growth is vital but so too is ensuring the prosperity created is evenly shared. After a long absence, industrial strategy is back on the agenda as a way of providing this inclusive growth. The cornerstone of … Continued READ MORE
Public finances Ending austerity? The priorities, price tags and practicalities for a government changing course on spending cuts 8 July 2017 by Matthew Whittaker Britain is seven years into a prolonged period of fiscal consolidation, in which constraints on public spending have been the central feature and are set to continue for some years to come. Following the general election there has been a significant debate about the extent to which the result – and the failure of the … Continued READ MORE
Migration· Work· Trade Work in Brexit Britain: reshaping the nation’s labour market 7 July 2017 Almost a year after voting to leave the European Union the negotiations for the UK’s departure began on 19th June 2017. Those negotiations and the exact nature of the agreements they lead to will dominate British politics and policy making for the years ahead, but making a success of Brexit Britain is about far more … Continued READ MORE
Work The minimum required? Minimum wages and the self-employed 4 July 2017 by Conor D’Arcy The minimum wage revolutionised the lower end of the UK’s labour market, protecting employees from exploitation. But the self-employed – now one in seven of the workforce – are not entitled to the minimum wage. With growing concerns over their earnings and conditions, particularly in the so-called gig economy, extending the minimum wage to some … Continued READ MORE
Labour Market Outlook· Work The RF Earnings Outlook Q1 2017 2 July 2017 by Stephen Clarke This Earnings Outlook looks at the first quarter of labour market data for 2017. This was a period when the pay squeeze returned with average weekly earnings falling by 0.4 per cent. This return is particularly unwelcome as average earnings are still 3.4 per cent below their pre-crisis peak. For Londoners and younger workers in … Continued READ MORE
Housing· Savings & debt· Wealth· Generations The generation of wealth: asset accumulation across and within cohorts 20 June 2017 by Conor D’Arcy and Laura Gardiner Family wealth in 21st Century Britain is huge and growing, rising from £9.9 trillion before the financial crisis to over £11 trillion in the most recent data – more than six times our national income. Significant increases have come from house price rises in the 1990s and 2000s, followed by major growth in private pension wealth more … Continued READ MORE
Work· Savings & debt· Generations The pay deficit: measuring the effect of pension deficit payments on workers’ wages 22 May 2017 by Matthew Whittaker and Brian Bell Across the UK economy, the share of overall employee compensation accounted for by non-wage elements such as employer pension contributions has increased substantially since 2000. This increase was driven in no small part by increased payments by employers to plug defined benefit deficits and coincided with a marked pre-crisis slowdown in pay growth, causing speculation … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Social security· Political parties and elections Still just about managing? Pre-election briefing on the main political parties’ welfare policies 21 May 2017 by David Finch Our pre-election series of briefing notes have so far centred on the main parties’ approaches to deficit reduction and to tax. To complete the fiscal ‘set’ we must also consider their take on welfare. This note explores future welfare challenges for an incoming government and examines the extent to which the differing party commitments might … Continued READ MORE
Tax· Political parties and elections A matter of tax: pre-election briefing on the main parties’ tax policies 16 May 2017 by Adam Corlett There is much that is unusual about the 2017 general election, from its surprise announcement to the dominance of a single issue – Brexit – on which the parties themselves remain split. Particularly remarkable is the extent to which the tax debate has so far focused more on options for tax rises rather than tax … Continued READ MORE
Public finances· Political parties and elections The deficit the election forgot? Pre-election briefing on the main parties’ fiscal positions 11 May 2017 by Adam Corlett and Matthew Whittaker While the deficit remains in place, it is heading back to the sort of level relative to the size of the economy that past generations have been comfortable with. With the process of fiscal consolidation dominating so much of the political discourse in recent years it’s unlikely that many voters will be lamenting a dialling … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Generations A mid-life less ordinary? Characteristics and incomes of low-to-middle income households age 50 to State Pension age 3 May 2017 by David Finch and Helena Rose This report provides an insight into the financial situation of those older low to middle income households highlighting the living standards challenges they face, some unique to this group but others shared by all working-age households. In doing so it aims to provide better understanding of the characteristics of older low to middle income families … Continued READ MORE
Work Up to the job? Using the Apprenticeship Levy to tackle the UK’s post-16 education divide 4 April 2017 by Kathleen Henehan Over the past twenty years there has been a significant rise in educational attainment in Britain: while the proportion of young people with low-level qualifications halved between 1996 and 2016, the proportion of those with qualifications at degree level and above more than doubled. Homing in on different types of qualifications, we see that growth … Continued READ MORE
Prices & consumption· Incomes· Public finances The going rate: moving from CPI to CPIH and the inflation experiences of UK households 20 March 2017 by Stephen Clarke The period of ultra-low inflation is over. CPI inflation is expected to rise above 2 per cent in the near future, eating into earnings and making benefits less generous. This coincides with a change in the way we measure those price rises, with a new main measure of inflation. On 21 March, CPIH will replace … Continued READ MORE
Work· Labour Market Outlook The RF Earnings Outlook Q4 2016 15 March 2017 by Adam Corlett This Earnings Outlook looks at the final quarter of labour market data for 2016. Most importantly, inflation has risen rapidly in recent months, weighing heavily on real pay growth – though published pay statistics will take some time to fully reflect this. Indeed, our ‘Spotlight’ article notes that real pay in the public sector has … Continued READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Public finances Are we nearly there yet? Spring Budget 2017 and the 15 year squeeze on family and public finances 9 March 2017 by Matthew Whittaker and Stephen Clarke and Adam Corlett and David Finch and Laura Gardiner and Kathleen Henehan and Daniel Tomlinson Resolution Foundation’s overnight briefing on the 2017 Spring Budget. READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Public finances Economy drive: prospects and priorities ahead of the last Spring Budget 28 February 2017 by Matthew Whittaker Healthier-than-expected tax receipts, the absence of any immediate post-referendum slowdown in growth and measurement changes are set to lower borrowing forecasts at next week’s Budget by £29bn between 2015-16 and 2020-21. Such a revision would leave borrowing projections for the remainder of the Parliament below those expected at Autumn Statement 2016, but still well above … Continued READ MORE
Work· Generations Study, Work, Progress, Repeat? How and why pay and progression outcomes have differed across cohorts 23 February 2017 by Laura Gardiner and Paul Gregg This paper is the fifth report for the Intergenerational Commission, which was launched in the summer of 2016 to explore questions of intergenerational fairness that are currently rising up the agenda and make recommendations for repairing the intergenerational social contract. It attempts to understand the concerning finding that millennials who have entered work so far … Continued READ MORE
Work A tough gig? The nature of self-employment in 21st Century Britain and policy implications 20 February 2017 by Daniel Tomlinson and Adam Corlett This Resolution Foundation analysis looks at the recent growth in self-employment. It focuses on: the sectoral make-up of the UK’s 5 million self-employed workers; the drivers of this growth since the recession; how the self-employed are treated differently in terms of tax and employment rights; and what policy challenges this raises. Key findings: Nearly 60 … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Inequality & poverty· Generations As time goes by: shifting incomes and inequality between and within generations 13 February 2017 by Adam Corlett This is the Resolution Foundation’s fourth report for the Intergenerational Commission, which over the course of 2017 will examine issues of intergenerational fairness and make recommendations to strengthen the intergenerational social contract. This paper, building on previous work on the earnings of different generations, examines household income. Specifically, it looks both at changes in income … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Inequality & poverty Living Standards 2017: the past, present and possible future of UK incomes 31 January 2017 by Adam Corlett and Stephen Clarke This is the Resolution Foundation’s eighth annual state of the nation report on UK living standards. It comes at a time when the recovery from the last downturn is still incomplete for some, yet the threat of a new squeeze on living standards looms large. The financial crisis hit households hard, yet in the last … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Cities and regions A western union: living standards and devolution in the West of England 26 January 2017 by Conor D’Arcy This May, voters in the West of England elect a Metro Mayor, with new powers over transport, skills and welfare-to-work policies, as well as the chance to bring economic leadership to their area. The area – comprising Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire – has outperformed most other city regions on a … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Social security You’re hired! Lessons for President Trump from a comparison of living standards and inequality in the US and the UK 23 January 2017 by Daniel Tomlinson This report sets out how, despite moving in step politically of late, the US and the UK economies have had somewhat different economic experiences since the financial crisis. The most notable divergence is on employment – the issue that President Trump put at the front and centre of his economic pitch to voters. As the … Continued READ MORE
