Universal Credit· Incomes· Inequality & poverty Five takeaways from new living standards data 22 March 2024 by Adam Corlett and Lalitha Try The annual release of DWP’s Households Below Average Income (HBAI) figures is far less timely than other economic indicators and, as it is based on survey data, it is noisy. Yet, together with the ONS’s separate income survey data (expected later in Spring), it provides key insights into how living standards have changed for different … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Intergenerational Centre Flat pay, little wealth and a shrinking safety net. Whatever happened to the millennials? What does the Intergenerational Audit say about UK Millennials 13 November 2023 by Molly Broome Recently, there’s been good news for millennials from across the pond where the latest data suggests their living standards are catching up with (and on some measures surpassing) previous generations. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for British millennials. It’s now been five years since the Resolution Foundation’s Intergenerational Commission first laid out the state … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Pay Falling pay, divergent data and a bulging middle. 2 November 2023 by Nye Cominetti The ONS has published its 2023 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), taken in April this year. ASHE is a big survey of employers that provides a detailed picture of employee pay across different places, jobs, and types of workers. It’s also the only data we get on hourly pay. So what does this … Continued READ MORE
Economy 2030· Living standards· Incomes· Prices & consumption Politicians need to talk about how we can lower bills by using less energy as a winter crisis looms France and the Netherlands have produced guidance to cut domestic energy use under respective ‘energy sobriety’ and ‘dial it down’ programmes 24 August 2022 by Jonathan Marshall The size of our energy bills is due to two things – how much energy costs, and how much of it we use. The first of these, for good reason, is front-page news at the moment. Wholesale gas prices are reaching new highs on an almost daily basis, pushing cost of heating and lighting our … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty New data shows households were struggling even before coronavirus 26 March 2020 by Adam Corlett Today we got the best data yet on the state of Britain’s household finances going into the present crisis, and – given that the impact of this shutdown and recession will be unequally felt – it was important that we also got more information on how particular groups were faring. Neither perspective is reassuring. There was no growth in typical incomes between 2016-17 and 2018-19 The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)’s new, detailed household … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Living standards· Incomes· Prices & consumption Family spending before the coronavirus crisis helps us to understand its potential impact 23 March 2020 by Fahmida Rahman Last week the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published its annual rundown of how UK households spent their money. These statistics provide the most detailed and direct insight into current living standards, and with a coronavirus-driven economic crisis in the making, they also give us a guide as to how we might expect things to … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Living standards· Incomes· Labour market· Welfare Key take-aways from the Chancellor’s package of measures to support workers in the coronavirus crisis 22 March 2020 by Mike Brewer and Laura Gardiner The Chancellor’s announcements on Friday 20 March were unprecedented in their scale and reach, and absolutely vital for supporting firms and family incomes in the face of the current crisis. Here are five key take-aways on how these changes will affect families, and three next steps for the Government to consider. 1. At a … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty Charting the UK’s lost decade of income growth 5 March 2020 by Adam Corlett Unlike with employment or GDP, detailed data on disposable household incomes comes with a long lag. So today the ONS released its main household income results for 2018-19. There will be more data to come in future (including poverty numbers later this month), but what we’ve learned today is not reassuring about post-referendum living standards. … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Labour market· Pay· Inequality & poverty· Cities and regions· Political parties and elections Election 2019: how Britain’s North-South divide is changing Closing the divide once and for all is a challenge all political parties say they want to embrace 6 December 2019 by Charlie McCurdy The North-South divide is a theme often used by – and against – politicians to highlight inequality in the UK, and election time is no exception. But this divide has evolved over time, and is by no means the only geographical divide in the country. The big economic divide Productivity – or how efficiently … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Labour market· Low pay· Pay Feel poor, work more – the real reason behind Britain’s record employment 13 November 2019 by Torsten Bell Why are three million more of us working today than were back in 2008? How has our employment rate reached 76 per cent, when full employment before the crisis meant 73 per cent of us working? These are employment levels no-one thought possible a decade ago. There is almost no bigger change to our economy … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Tax· Political parties and elections Tax cuts for the rich is not the answer to the questions 21st century Britain is asking 10 June 2019 by Torsten Bell Politics is about answering the question the country is asking at that time, and in that place. Context matters. This fact seems to have escaped the notice of a number of candidates in the rather crowded field to be the next Conservative leader, judging by the single focus of many of their big ideas: massive … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty Last year saw living standards stagnate and poverty rise 28 March 2019 by Adam Corlett It may go unnoticed amid the current political turmoil, but today we learnt a lot about the recent state of Britain via the publication of official statistics on incomes, poverty and inequality. We already know how the economy and labour market have performed over recent years, but today’s stats give us much more information about … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty What does new ONS data tell us about incomes and inequality? 26 February 2019 by Adam Corlett Today we got the first solid data about household incomes in 2017-18. Unfortunately, the figures today confirm fears that 2017-18 was not a great year for living standards progress. (Though note that the bigger sister to this release, which will give us even better data, especially on poverty, will be out at the end of … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Economy and public finances As growth slows UK households have already taken a £1,500 living standards hit since the referendum 11 February 2019 by Torsten Bell Today we learnt that economic growth slowed significantly at the end of 2018, with GDP only growing by 0.2 per cent in the last three months of the year. This is around a third of the pre-crisis average rate. In December alone, the economy contracted by 0.4 per cent with the manufacturing sector now having … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Prices & consumption Guest blog: When the ONS changes its mind, economic policy and political reputation are on the line 30 July 2018 by Dan Corry and Peter Kenway In these ‘post-expert’ times, it’s worth remembering that good policy rests on good evidence. Our fiscal and monetary institutions don’t just set policy with reference to economic theory, but in relation to what’s going on in the economy. So – as we heard earlier this week – when history gets re-written in a way that … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Labour market How to get family incomes growing again 16 April 2018 by Torsten Bell Lots of things matter for family incomes – but for British households as a whole nothing matters as much as the labour market. Questions of who has a job and what they get paid for doing it might not be the only determinant of our living standards – but they are certainly the first. … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty What today’s household income figures tell us about 2016-17 22 March 2018 by Adam Corlett The best results can take time. We already have data for what happened to employment, prices and earnings in early 2018, but for a detailed look at household incomes the latest official data – out today – is for 2016-17. What does this release tell us about living standards, poverty and inequality back when The … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Prices & consumption Hey big spender! 18 January 2018 by Stephen Clarke Todays’ annual Family Spending release contains the usual treasure trove of information on what UK households spent their money on last year. Households spent a lot. Average weekly spending rose (after adjusting for inflation) by 4 per cent from £533 to £554 between 2015-16 and 2016-17 – the sharpest increase for well over a decade … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes Did raising tuition fees flatter measurements of young people’s incomes? 13 October 2017 by Adam Corlett The government has announced that the maximum annual tuition fee will be frozen at £9,250; and that the earnings threshold for repayment will jump from £21,000 to £25,000. What’s more, there will be a wide review of student finances to “look again” at this turbulent political issue. While they’re doing that, government statisticians should look … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty· Brexit & trade We’re getting poorer, but it’s not (just) Brexit 6 October 2017 by Matthew Whittaker Amid a busy week in politics, the publication this week of new data showing that average household income per person has fallen in each of the last four quarters has passed somewhat unremarked upon. As the chart below shows, annualised income fell by 0.3 per cent in the second quarter of this year relative to … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty Vast gaps in living standards between ethnic groups persist — and recent progress could yet be undone 10 August 2017 by Adam Corlett We talk a lot about certain types of income inequality—the recent outcry over unequal pay at the BBC springs to mind—but the specifics of ethnic economic inequalities rarely get enough air time. Though only scratching the surface of such a complex topic, my recent Resolution Foundation briefing on the gaps in household incomes for different ethnicities sought … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty Despite the economic gloom, living standards for BAME groups are finally catching up 9 August 2017 by Torsten Bell Good news is undervalued. Partly because it doesn’t make as good headlines and partly because there hasn’t been much of it around after a fairly grim decade since the financial crisis. So here’s some: since the turn of the millennium living standards gaps between different ethnic groups have been narrowing in Britain. Since 2002 White … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes Incomes are falling, placing our economic growth on borrowed time 30 June 2017 by Matthew Whittaker Politics may be dominating the news agenda at the moment, but there’s a lot going on in the economy too. For those who care about living standards – and given the centrality of the issue to both the Brexit vote and the general election, that should include politicians – this week has been a … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty· Cities and regions When it comes to living standards, geography matters 24 May 2017 by Matthew Whittaker A slowdown in economic growth and the recent return of the pay squeeze has focused attention once again on the extent to which absolute living standard improvements have stalled across UK households since the financial crisis of 2008. But the distribution of gains and losses matters too – especially in the context of a vote … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes For low income families, the next four years could be worse than the recession 16 May 2017 by Adam Corlett Will households be better off in 2020 than in 2016? And who will fare best? Economic predictions are always uncertain, particularly as we embark on the long process of negotiating just what Brexit really means. But the official Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts for pay, prices and employment are as comprehensive as it gets, and … Continued READ MORE
