Labour market The UK’s surge in self-employment brings with it increased financial insecurity 8 May 2014 by Conor D’Arcy One in seven workers in the UK are now self-employed with more than 650,000 starting out on their own since the recession. While some have argued that many work for themselves more out of necessity than choice, a recent survey for the Resolution Foundation confirmed that the overwhelming majority of the UK’s 4.5 million self-employed … Continued READ MORE
Labour market The risks and rewards of being self-employed 7 May 2014 by Laura Gardiner Since the recession, the Yorkshire and Humber region has added 14,000 employees but an extra 22,000 self-employed people. It looks as if higher levels of self-employment are here to stay but our research suggests that while most of the self-employed prefer being their own boss, they often struggle with accessing basics such as housing and … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Looking past the headlines on zero-hours contracts 30 April 2014 by Laura Gardiner Today’s new figures from the ONS shed further light on recent lively debate on zero-hours contracts (ZHCs). Sort of. Back in 2012, around the time that the zero-hours debate began to capture the attention of politicians and commentators, it was reported that there were around a quarter of a million workers on a ZHC in … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Living standards· Social mobility Mobility and the squeezed middle 22 April 2014 by Craig Holmes A common criticism of the recent concern over rising inequality is that it looks at the distribution of earnings and wealth at one point in time. Individuals are mobile and tend, on balance, to find better paying jobs over the course of their lifetime, which might mean that looking at their wages at any one … Continued READ MORE
Pay Turning the corner: understanding this week’s wage data 14 April 2014 by Matthew Whittaker After nearly six years in which wage growth has been consistently outstripped by inflation, expectation is building that this week will mark an official end to the pay squeeze. As the chart below shows, the gap between the Office for National Statistics’ Average Weekly Earnings (AWE) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation measures has been narrowing … Continued READ MORE
Living standards What’s really been happening to living standards? 7 April 2014 by Gavin Kelly Despite the fact that it’s been centre-stage for a number of years, there is still a lot of confusion about the squeeze on household incomes: who has really been hit and by how much? Given that this will be a central political issue between now and the election it’s worth pausing over. Currently there are … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Pay set is to go up, or down, or stay the same – it all depends on how you measure it 3 April 2014 by Gavin Kelly and Matthew Whittaker We can expect to hear an awful lot about the closing gap between pay and inflation over the next few months as, inevitably and thankfully, on some measure we close in on a “cross-over point” where wages overtake price rises. But this poses the question: which measure of inflation and, indeed, which measure of pay? … Continued READ MORE
Welfare Will the welfare cap stand the test of time? 25 March 2014 by Gavin Kelly George Osborne’s welfare cap will be voted on tomorrow. It’s viewed by many as a moment of reckoning for Labour in which it will be caught in a deadly trap: support eye-wateringly tight and binding proposals that threaten the future of the welfare state or oppose them and stand exposed as the believers in big … Continued READ MORE
Labour market We should reform zero-hours contracts, not ban them 25 March 2014 by Vidhya Alakeson The latest estimate from the Office for National Statistics is that close to 600,000 workers or 2 per cent of the workforce are employed on a zero-hours contract. Health and social care, hospitality and administration account for over 50 per cent of these workers. Zero-hours contracts are intended to offer flexibility to employers and workers. … Continued READ MORE
Economy and public finances Four tests for Osborne’s Budget 20 March 2014 by James Plunkett This post originally appeared on The Spectator With the Coalition taking pre-Budget briefing to new levels you’d be excused for thinking there’s little we don’t know about tomorrow’s statement. But here are four questions we can’t yet answer, and that will be crucial to assessing whether this is a Budget for low-to-middle earners as the Chancellor claims: … Continued READ MORE
Economy and public finances A budget for the ‘makers, doers and savers’ 20 March 2014 by Matthew Whittaker The theme of economic optimism that built during 2013 spilled over into today’s Budget—but only just. GDP is projected to rise more quickly over the next four years than was the case back in the autumn, and employment continues to out-perform expectations. But there are question marks over the extent to which people are feeling … Continued READ MORE
Economy and public finances Mind the Budget income gap 19 March 2014 by Vidhya Alakeson If the Chancellor is to be believed, this was yet another Budget for ‘hard working families’. But the reality seems more mixed. Let’s start with the positive: yesterday’s childcare announcement. Leave aside that the majority of new spending on childcare is still going to better off families, including those earning up to £300,000, a little … Continued READ MORE
Labour market The Budget contains little to excite those on middle incomes 19 March 2014 by Matthew Whittaker Despite the talk of letting people keep more of what they earn and what they save, today’s budget contained little to excite those on low to middle incomes. The government’s policy of increasing the income tax personal allowance above inflation has consistently been sold as a low-earner tax cut. But in reality, today’s announcement of … Continued READ MORE
Labour market More than a minimum: reforming the minimum wage 13 March 2014 by Conor D’Arcy The national minimum wage celebrates its 15th birthday next month. Given the dire effects some predicted it would have – two million job losses and spiralling inflation – even its short-term survival was far from guaranteed in 1999. George Bain, chair of the Low Pay Commission when the initial rate was set, has admitted he … Continued READ MORE
Welfare Why the Lib Dems’ £12,500 tax allowance promise is a smaller pledge than it sounds 11 March 2014 by Gavin Kelly Since the weekend, when the Lib Dem faithful gathered in York for their spring conference, quite a few column inches have been filled with frothy speculation about Nick Clegg’s likely longevity as Liberal Democrat leader. Nothing, however, has been written about the new twist he gave their proposed tax policy (Lib Dem blogger Mark Pack being the … Continued READ MORE
Housing Shared ownership: a role for funders? 7 March 2014 by Vidhya Alakeson Almost a year on from the launch of Help to Buy, millions of Britons are still unable to get on the housing ladder. The ongoing costs of a high loan to value mortgage are too great a stretch on a modest income, however small the deposit. Among the under thirty fives on low to middle … Continued READ MORE
Labour market SeaTac: the small US town that sparked a new movement against low wages 23 February 2014 by Gavin Kelly Until the turn of the year, few Americans had much reason to have heard of SeaTac, a small community just outside Seattle. Those aware of the town’s existence knew it as a place that exists to serve the city’s bustling Seattle–Tacoma international airport. But SeaTac is now firmly on the map. Recent events there have … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Without sustained improvement in wages, the recovery may yet run out of road 19 February 2014 by Matthew Whittaker While the latest set of labour market statistics which came out this morning suggested a slowdown in the rate of improvement, they don’t disguise what continues to be a very strong period for UK employment. The number of people in work passed its pre-recession peak of 29.6 million in the summer of 2012; since then … Continued READ MORE
Living standards It’s too early to be pessimistic about boosting living standards 11 February 2014 by Gavin Kelly Things are likely to stop getting worse sometime soon, progress will then be painfully slow, and it’s going to be an awful long time before they get back to where they were before the crash. That’s the gist of a major new report on living standards by the Resolution Foundation, which will show that typical household incomes … Continued READ MORE
Welfare The case for looser childcare ratios rests on confusion 29 January 2014 by James Plunkett This blog originally appeared on the New Statesman The government claims to want to reduce costs and increase quality. It can’t have it both ways. This morning’s announcement on childcare ratios should be just the hors d’oeuvre before the government sets out its plans to increase childcare support for parents. According to the latest rumours, it now … Continued READ MORE
Welfare Careers and carers: would some stay-at-home mums prefer to work? 24 January 2014 by Vidhya Alakeson Camilla is 31. She has two children under five. She currently works five hours a week but she would prefer to work 16 hours. Like her, Rachel also has two children under five. She’s a stay at home mum but she would prefer to work full time. But for both Camilla and Rachel, childcare is … Continued READ MORE
Labour market These wage stats don’t tell us much about living standards 24 January 2014 by James Plunkett This morning the government released some interesting new stats on wages. It claims that 90 per cent of people saw their earnings rise in the year to April 2013. As I tweeted earlier this week, the data source that the government are using tells a more positive story about wages than the more regular earnings data that drives most … Continued READ MORE
Labour market The robots are coming. Will they bring wealth or a divided society? 6 January 2014 by Gavin Kelly Whether it’s our humdrum reliance on supermarket self-service tills, Siri on our iPhones, the emergence of the drone as a weapon of choice or the impending arrival of the driverless car, intelligent machines are woven into our lives as never before. It’s increasingly common, a cliche even, for us to read about the inexorable rise … Continued READ MORE
Welfare Stealth cuts to universal credit will hit the working poor 13 December 2013 by Gavin Kelly Few things in politics are certain, but certain policy announcements elicit a predictable media response. Tinker with the tax treatment of the elderly and prepare to be accused of imposing a “granny tax”. Or, more hopefully for the coalition, increase the generosity of the personal tax allowance and read about “tax cuts for low earners”. So here’s … Continued READ MORE
Living standards The Treasury has a point on living standards — but it ignores the role of inequality 5 December 2013 by James Plunkett One of the big surprises in today’s Autumn Statement lies in the new OBR projections. Growth has been revised up as expected—at least in the short-term. But wage forecasts are down. Amazingly, after today’s largely positive economic news, the squeeze on wages is now going to be even longer than the OBR thought in March. The updates reflect … Continued READ MORE
