Analysis and action on living standards
It has been a bleak winter for the Government’s hopes that the economy might turn a corner. Markets have been volatile, with the cost of government borrowing rising to its highest level since July 2008 with the pound falling sharply. And there are signs that growth has hit a brick wall, with GDP flat in Q3 2024. Here we take a closer look at what has been going on and discuss how the Government should respond.
The latest release of long-awaited data from the Wealth and Assets Survey (WAS) allows us to shed more light on family finances during the Covid-19 pandemic. It shows that total household wealth reached a record high of £13.6 trillion in the 2020-22, equivalent to over six times (610 per cent) national income, up slightly from 590 per cent in 2018-20.
The Resolution Foundation is an independent think-tank focused on improving living standards for those on low-to-middle incomes. We work across a wide range of economic and social policy areas, combining our core purpose with a commitment to analytical rigour.
Like most countries, the UK is ageing – over the past five decades its median age has risen from 34 to 41. This deep demographic trend has all sorts of implications for public policy, not least the need to find greater resources to provide care for a growing elderly population. What is less well appreciated is that this ageing is playing out differently in different parts of the country – both in terms of places’ age profile, but also in terms of the rate at which places are ageing.
A long-standing finding is that British households on low-to-middle incomes are poorer than their counterparts in many advanced economies. This result comes from comparing the incomes of this group to price levels in their respective countries. But these price measures typically reflect the spending of all families, not just those on low-to-middle incomes.
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:
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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Evaluating the economic importance of intergenerational exchanges including housing assistance, childcare and other unpaid care, and financial aid.
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