Analysis and action on living standards
Jobs, Skills and Pay
This groundbreaking piece of research addresses the question of earnings volatility, unearthing some striking findings about the lived experience of work – and the pay we receive for it – in the UK today. Up until now, our understanding of volatility in earnings over time has been limited to changes in pay from year to … Continued
Jobs, Skills and Pay
This paper gets to the bottom of why real wages are still 3 per cent below their level before the crisis. It both explains why the wage squeeze was so much worse in the UK compared to other advanced economies and why the recovery since 2014 has been so sluggish.
Tax and Welfare
The long implementation of Universal Credit (UC) has been far from smooth and we’ve become all too used to negative stories about roll-out delays and, more seriously, payment problems and financial hardship for those accessing the new system. The government, however, is likely to have been cheered at least by the fact that the roll-out … Continued
This project was undertaken as part of the Historians in Residence programme, which is based at King’s College, London. The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Resolution Foundation. In 1974, the Labour government established a Royal Commission on the Distribution of Income … Continued
Jobs, Skills and Pay
In Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot the two protagonists wait in vain for the arrival of the titular character. At the moment the UK labour market bears a certain resemblance to the play, with the Bank of England playing the protagonists waiting (perhaps in vain) for more robust wage growth. As this Thursday’s MPC vote … Continued
Public Finances and the Economy
Worries about the state of modern capitalism abound from politicians across the political spectrum. This should be no surprise, with the UK still emerging from one of the deepest recessions and squeezes on living standards in modern history. At least part of the story told by the many of the critics of our economy is … Continued