Productivity & industrial strategy· Cities and regions· Economic growth Solving the productivity puzzle 15 July 2021 by Lindsay Judge Regional inequalities are a longstanding feature within UK political debate. However, they have gained additional pertinence in the years since the 2008 financial crisis. From the 2016 EU referendum result, through the ‘red wall’ turning blue in the 2019 general election, to the differential impact of Covid-19 across the UK, place increasingly functions as a … Continued READ MORE
Economy 2030 Preparing for a decade of economic change Lessons from the era of White Heat 5 July 2021 by Gavin Kelly Boris Johnson’s administration may well oversee the start of a period of major upheaval for the UK economy – quite possibly the largest since the 1980s. Whether it is post-Brexit trade dislocation, new patterns of production and consumption resulting from the imperative of Net Zero, a long Covid hangover, or the rise of digital technologies … Continued READ MORE
UK employers may be struggling to fill jobs, but this isn’t a new era of worker power Although the labour market is starting to recover, the effects of the pandemic will be felt for a very long time 2 July 2021 by Torsten Bell Commentators have decided that the labour market is booming, reporting that firms are finding it hard to hire people. Some have predicted the dawn of a new era of worker power that will push up wages, while others worry labour shortages will hold our recovery back. The bigger danger, however, is that we’re losing sight of what’s … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19 The Covid certainty: more savings for the rich, more debt for the poor 30 June 2021 by Torsten Bell We’re emerging from the Covid crisis, slowly and, thanks to the Delta variant, not so surely. During the pandemic, scientists have understandably been centre stage, helping us understand the virus and its spread. But economists and other social scientists have done their bit too. Badly needed emergency policies have been developed. Some, such as the … Continued READ MORE
Ventures Workertech newsletter: June 2021 The latest update from Resolution Ventures 21 June 2021 by Louise Marston Hello and welcome to June’s Workertech newsletter from Resolution Ventures, covering how technology is improving the world of low-paid and precarious work. This month we’ve put a spotlight on American Workertech, and some of the great organisations in the US. Also make sure to catch up on the video of our June event – … Continued READ MORE
Ventures Workertech newsletter: May 2021 The latest update from Resolution Ventures 21 May 2021 by Emma Selinger Welcome to the first edition of the Workertech Newsletter from Resolution Ventures. We’re delighted to be reaching out to everyone in our Workertech community. The Workertech community exists to convene workers, unions, investors, employers, policymakers and researchers using technology to change the world of work for the better for those in low-paid and precarious employment. The Workertech … Continued READ MORE
Economy 2030 The UK is entering a decisive decade of economic change without a plan to shape it 20 May 2021 by Torsten Bell The UK is facing a decisive decade of economic change that the country is neither used to, nor prepared for. It’s time to rebuild our approach to economic success in the light of those shifts to the jobs we do, the firms we work for and the places in which we live. Simply muddling through, by … Continued READ MORE
Ventures Shock Absorbers: is there a role for innovation in improving families’ financial resilience? 4 May 2021 by Louise Marston Financial resilience is often defined as the ability to cope with a financial shock, such as unemployment, or an unexpected cost, such as a car breakdown. It involves access to appropriate and available funds, it is not just a matter of having money available. It also means having access to credit at a reasonable cost; … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Intergenerational Centre Three reasons to be concerned about job losses among older workers A U-Shaped crisis 29 April 2021 by Nye Cominetti Young people have been at the epicentre of the Covid-19 crisis. The severe restrictions and lockdown closures of social sectors of the economy – such as hospitality, retail, arts and leisure, where young workers are concentrated – has led millions of our youngest workers to be put on furlough or, worse still, lose their jobs. … Continued READ MORE
Living standards Pre-pandemic Britain experienced a mini living standards boom – alongside rising child poverty New data show stronger growth in household incomes leading up to the Covid-19 crisis, but we need to look over a longer period for a more accurate impression 25 March 2021 by Karl Handscomb The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) today published statistics on household incomes and poverty covering 2019-20. Because producing these estimates is a time-consuming process – both for the households who are surveyed and the statisticians processing the data into interesting statistics – the results are already a year out of date, and tell us … Continued READ MORE
The Government’s record on Covid-19 has been defined by two big successes and one recurring deadly failure With the worst of the crisis behind us, it is right to assess how the Government has handled the pandemic 19 March 2021 by Mike Brewer The first anniversary of the first national lockdown falls on 23 March. With the worst of the crisis behind us, it is right to assess how the Government has handled the pandemic. Even the Prime Minister’s former Chief Advisor Dominic Cummings thinks the need for an inquiry is urgent. We can break down the Government’s handling of the crisis into … Continued READ MORE
Working in the Think Tank Sector Highlights from our joint event in partnership with other think tanks and organisations 5 March 2021 Think tanks are research organisations that develop ideas on a whole range of subjects affecting society. They make suggestions for action, using research, analysis and commentary to inform and influence politicians, policy makers and the public. Given the recent economic, social and political issues facing the UK, encouraging more diversity in the world of research … Continued READ MORE
Household debt· Housing A loan scheme for renters could stop tenants from being made homeless 18 February 2021 by Lindsay Judge The protracted length of the coronavirus crisis has led to rent arrears reaching twice the level observed going into the crisis. In January 2021, we estimate that over 750,000 families were behind with their housing payments, 300,000 of which contained dependent children. Before the pandemic hit, many families spent a high share of their income … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Fiscal policy· Economy and public finances· Tax Fiscal multi-tasking 12 November 2020 by Torsten Bell Multi-tasking can be hard. Ask any parent that survived lockdown by combining work with something resembling home schooling. But it’s also a fact of life, so the trick is to manage multiple objectives well, not wish them away. This is true for people and our Government. Indeed, fiscal multi-tasking is what the 2020s are all … Continued READ MORE
Ventures Introducing the Workertech Partnership Backing a new wave of innovators who will harness technology to improve the prospects, power and choices of workers 10 November 2020 by Louise Marston The world of work was already changing rapidly before the crisis, with rising use of automation and increasing levels of insecure work. Coronavirus has highlighted how exposed many people are to changes in hours, lack of health and safety protections, and how few opportunities there are for flexible employment that works for families. The coronavirus … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Labour market The Chancellor has prevented a grim winter of redundancies – but has failed to fix the faults with his jobs support package 6 November 2020 by Mike Brewer On Thursday, Rishi Sunak announced that the Job Retention Scheme – where employees can be put on furlough and still get 80 per cent of their wages covered by the government – will continue to the end of March. Self-employed workers can get another three-month grant of 80 per cent of their pre-crisis profits. There … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19 Worse for some The economic pain is being felt differently by different people. And for many of them, rock bottom is still to come 23 October 2020 by Torsten Bell The pan in pandemic is a dangerous prefix. While the virus now straddles the globe, those three letters can give the impression of an equality of impact that is very far from the truth. On the health side this is blindingly obvious, with death rates from the virus climbing sharply with age and, as in … Continued READ MORE
History tells us to brace for 1990s-style tax rises rather than spending cuts 21 October 2020 by Torsten Bell A common human flaw is to believe the future will look like our immediate past. If something unusual has happened we conclude it’s likely to happen again. The person unlucky enough to be struck by lightning spends more time than the rest of us worrying about storms. That a lucky gambler thinks they’ll get lucky … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Prices & consumption· Intergenerational Centre The current consumption crisis will be important for the future jobs market recovery 16 October 2020 by Maja Gustafsson Britain’s jobs crisis is concentrated in low-paying sectors like hospitality, retail, arts and leisure that have been hardest hit by lockdown and ongoing social distancing measures. In 2019, 32 per cent of 18-29-year-old employees worked in these sectors. But those who tend to spend the greatest proportion of their disposable income on these more pleasurable … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Intergenerational Centre We must not let coronavirus exacerbate Britain’s intergenerational inequalities still further 8 October 2020 by David Willetts One of the biggest challenges the Government faces is to offer young people the same kind of opportunities that the Boomers enjoyed when we were young. The pay of young workers is no higher than it was ten or fifteen years ago. And getting started on the housing ladder is much harder – though the … Continued READ MORE
Inequality & poverty· Wealth & assets The Child Trust Fund comes of age It presents a unique opportunity to learn about the difference that asset ownership can make 29 August 2020 by Gavin Kelly With little fanfare the UK is about to witness a mass experiment in the extension of access to capital. Other nations may have sovereign wealth funds, and some have experimented with universal basic incomes, but the UK is the first to create a citizen’s endowment for all young adults. From next week those turning eighteen … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Labour market Millions of furloughed workers have returned to work – but support for hard-hit sectors will be needed beyond October Analysing the HMRC Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme data 21 August 2020 by Nye Cominetti This morning, HMRC published its latest round of statistics on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (JRS). For the first time, we have a time series of the number of furloughed workers, as opposed to the cumulative total, meaning we can see how use of the scheme has evolved since the start of April. Here are … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Welfare The UK should not weaken safety nets mid-storm As more workers are laid-off this autumn, the grim reality of meagre support will become clear 11 August 2020 by Gavin Kelly Resisting pressure to spend more on disadvantaged groups is seen as part of the job by battle-hardened officials in the UK Treasury. But stripping away benefit increases that have only just been introduced is rather different and doing so in the midst of an economic collapse would, to put it mildly, be something extraordinary. Yet … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Budgets & fiscal events· Economy and public finances Sunak’s crisis-fighting measures: time to scale up? The Chancellor’s policy announcements are generating wide discussion but are the sums commensurate with the depth of the downturn? 13 July 2020 by James Smith This week the Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled his “Summer Economic Update.” In case it’s not clear, this wasn’t technically a Budget. That said, it still contained more policy than all but three of the fiscal events we’ve had since the onset of the financial crisis more than a decade ago. So, it was a big … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Labour market Any further questions? From 'The Full Monty: Facing up to the scale of the COVID-19 jobs crisis' 29 June 2020 by Hannah Slaughter We often have more questions submitted for our event Q&A sessions than we’re able to answer. Where this is the case, we’ll endeavour to respond to a selection of the most interesting or most representative questions that went unanswered. The questions below were submitted to our panel for the event The Full Monty: Facing up … Continued READ MORE
