Analysis and action on living standards
How do the living standards of younger Millennials and Gen Z fare And what policymakers should do to help ensure generational progress in both income and wealth?
In the five years since 2019, the period in which Britain formally left the EU, UK exports have tilted from goods towards services about three times faster than before. Worryingly, this reflects weakness in goods – with the UK experiencing the largest fall in goods exports in the G7 – rather than strength in services. Had Britain merely held its 2019 global market share in goods, exports would have been £74 billion higher in 2024. Neither Britain’s high energy prices nor its exposure to China’s latest export push can explain this – Brexit seems to have played a key role.
The Resolution Foundation is an independent think-tank dedicated to lifting living standards in the UK. We focus particularly on households with low and middle incomes; those on low pay or in precarious work; and those vulnerable to financial shocks.
This briefing note – the third in a series on precarious work supported by Unbound Philanthropy – examines the balance of informal power between workers and employers in the cleaning, hospitality and warehousing sectors, drawing on a new survey of 2,000 workers and in-depth interviews.
The private rented sector (PRS) has more than doubled in size since the turn of the century, and the people who live within it look very different today compared to those it housed in the early 2000s. As exiting the tenure has become more challenging over time, tenants have aged and often started families. Today, children are more likely to be living in the PRS than working-age adults. Getting policy right in this space is now more important than ever.
The Resolution Foundation calculates the real Living Wage – a voluntary hourly pay rate that is based on what families need to get by. The current national rate is:
Explore our interactive housing indicators or read about our alternative estimate of UK employment.
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Resolution Ventures exists to back innovative start-ups seeking to change the world of work for the better, and early-stage ventures seeking to improve the prospects of low-to-middle income Britain.
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