Entering employment, acquiring new skills and progressing up the pay ladder are important steps in many people’s lives, and essential for improving their living standards. But changes in the labour market, educational opportunities and the wider economy mean that different generations face different work and pay-related challenges, shifting across the life course. In this section we explore:

• Pay growth
• Employment trends
• Qualifications
• Atypical employment

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Access to safe, secure and affordable housing is one of the most fundamental measures of living standards. But spiralling house prices, combined with the limited availability of social housing and high costs associated with the private rented sector, mean that for many UK families and individuals, these things remain out of reach. In this section we examine:

• Home ownership
• Housing costs
• Overcrowding
• Commuting times

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Household incomes and consumption patterns provide a lens on day-to-day living standards. We explore these measures here, with a specific focus on how changes to the tax and benefit system are affecting them, and the experience of poverty for different generations over the life course. In particular we look at:

• Household incomes
• Poverty
• Consumption trends
• Welfare spending

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In this section we explore wealth inequalities between different birth cohorts and generations, how this relates to home ownership, and how it reflects changes in the pensions system. We also look at how wealth patterns vary between men and women. Our data focuses on:

• Changes in net wealth
• Property wealth
• Inheritances and gifts
• Pensions

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