The deep impact of lockdown restrictions eased slightly in May as some employees returned from furlough and self-employed workers increased their hours. But the true scale of Britain’s jobs crisis won’t be known until the Government’s Job Retention Scheme is phased out in the months ahead, the Resolution Foundation said today (Thursday) in response to … Continued

The UK’s headline unemployment measure is significantly understating the recent rise in joblessness, while the often-used claimant count measure is hugely overstating the increase, according to a new Resolution Foundation report published today (Thursday). With changes to people’s employment status arguably the most important indicator of the state of the economy for most households, The … Continued

The Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) latest outlook points to the biggest economic contraction in 300 years and unemployment matching its 1980s peak, highlighting the Chancellor’s gamble in not taking a bolder approach to tackling Britain’s jobs crisis, the Resolution Foundation said today (Tuesday). In three scenarios for the length of the crisis and the … Continued

Commenting on the ONS GDP data for May 2020, which showed that the economy grew by 1.8 per cent between April and May (the largest monthly increase in over seven years), but is still down 24.5 per cent on February 2020, James Smith, Research Director of the Resolution Foundation, said: “Today’s data tells us that … Continued

The Chancellor’s Summer Statement was a Budget in-all-but-name, with £30 billion of tax cuts and spending commitments rightly focused on jobs and some, but not all, of the hardest-hit sectors, the Resolution Foundation said today (Wednesday). While significant, the new policies only amount to a 20 per cent increase in the size of the Government’s … Continued

Commenting on the Government’s announcement of a new Kickstart Scheme to help young people into work, Kathleen Henehan, Economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Young people have been hit hardest by Britain’s growing jobs crisis, with three-in-ten 18-24 year olds furloughed, and one-in-ten already having lost their jobs. So, action to keep youth unemployment down … Continued

A £200bn economic recovery plan is needed from the Chancellor tomorrow to reflect the unprecedented scale and nature of the crisis Britain faces, and the lack of monetary policy firepower available to support the economy, according to a major new report published today (Tuesday) by the Resolution Foundation. Easing does it makes a comprehensive assessment … Continued

New Resolution Foundation research published this Tuesday will call on the Chancellor to give every household in Britain High Street Vouchers worth £500 per adult and £250 per child, in order to kickstart the economic recovery by focusing support on the firms and workers hardest hit by the covid-induced economic crisis. The proposal, which forms … Continued

The pandemic has exposed a huge generational divide in living conditions across Britain, with young people locked down with half the space and three times the risk of damp than older age groups, while renters have seen their mental health deteriorate, according to new Resolution Foundation research published today (Friday). Lockdown Living, funded by the … Continued

Commenting on the Prime Minister’s speech today, Torsten Bell, Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation, said: “In today’s speech, the Prime Minister returned to a key theme of both the 2019 Conservative Manifesto, and the March 2020 Budget, by recommitting to ‘level up’ the country with an ambitious of capital investment. “This the right thing … Continued

Britain needs a ‘Full Monty’ policy package, including a Job Protection Scheme to subsidise the wages of hospitality workers and its biggest job creation programme in peacetime, to respond to the highest unemployment since the early 1990s, according to a major new Resolution Foundation report published today (Monday). The Full Monty takes a deep dive into … Continued

The ‘Triple Lock’ is on course to increase the cash value of the State Pension by 7.6 per cent between 2020 and 2022, compared to 2.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent increases in prices and earnings respectively, largely due to the coronavirus crisis causing earnings to fall this year and spike next year, according … Continued

Lower-income households are twice as likely as high-income households to have increased their use of consumer credit during the crisis, and are 50 per cent more likely to be saving less than usual, leaving them particularly exposed to the ongoing economic crisis, according to a major new Resolution Foundation report published today (Monday). Rainy Days, … Continued

The impact of the pandemic has pushed the UK’s public debt level above the size of the economy for the first time since 1963, the Resolution Foundation said today (Friday) in response to the latest public finance figures. Public borrowing in May was the highest on record (£55.2 billion), and slightly higher than borrowing in … Continued

The UK experienced has experienced record falls hours worked and vacancies since the lockdown began, the Resolution Foundation said today (Tuesday) in response to the latest ONS figures. The latest ONS data shows that while the headline measure of unemployment (covering the period February to April) is yet to capture the effects of the economic … Continued

Every region of the UK is seeing a significant rise in unemployment, but coastal tourist destinations like Blackpool, Pembrokeshire and Devon are seeing the biggest jobs hit, the Resolution Foundation says in new analysis published today (Sunday). With a drop of nearly half a million PAYE workers between March and April, Britain is facing a … Continued

April saw the sharpest monthly contraction on record, with GDP falling by 20.4 per cent compared with March, the Resolution Foundation said in response to latest figures released today (Friday) by the Office for National Statistics.   This monthly contraction is more than 9 times greater than any pre-pandemic monthly fall since these records began in 1997 (beating the 2.2 per cent fall in June 2002).  In the three months to April output fell by 10.4 per … Continued

Nearly two-in-five (38 per cent) high-income, working-age families have strengthened their household budgets since the crisis began, by reducing their spending and avoiding a hit to their incomes, while just one-in-eight (12 per cent) low-income families have been in this position, according to a new Resolution Foundation report published today (Tuesday). Much of the debate … Continued

A new settlement for low-paid workers, hardest hit by both health and economic risks in this crisis, should be introduced to improve their pay and conditions as Britain emerges from the crisis, according to a new report published today (Wednesday) by the Resolution Foundation. The report notes that the UK’s 4.2 million low-paid workers have … Continued

One-in-eight (13 per cent) private renters have fallen behind with their housing costs since the coronavirus crisis started, compared to just one-in-twelve (8 per cent) mortgaged home owners, highlighting how the pandemic has exacerbated Britain’s housing divide, according to new Resolution Foundation research published today (Saturday). The report, based on a YouGov survey of 6,005 … Continued

The Chancellor has sensibly set out a cautious timetable for bringing employer contributions into the Job Retention Scheme (JRS), alongside extending the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme that will be very generous in many cases, the Resolution Foundation said today (Friday) in response to the Chancellor’s announcement. The Foundation says that the cautious timetable for introducing … Continued

Universal Credit (UC) has passed its first test of the crisis by coping with an unprecedented surge in demand, but tougher challenges lie ahead in protecting family incomes and helping people back into work, according to a major new report published today (Wednesday). The report, supported by The Standard Life Foundation, considers how UC has … Continued

Government borrowing reached £62.1 billion in April – the highest monthly figure since records began in 1993, and as much as the whole of last year (£62.7bn between April 2019-March 2020) – highlighting the stark fiscal cost of the coronavirus crisis, the Resolution Foundation said today (Friday) in response to the latest ONS public finance figures. … Continued

The Top 1 per cent received a far greater, and faster growing, share of the nation’s income pre-crisis than previously thought, if capital gains are included in official statistics, according to major new research published today (Thursday). The research – a collaboration between the Resolution Foundation, LSE and CAGE Research Centre at the University of … Continued

The number of employees fell by 450,000 in April, while vacancies crashed by around 50 per cent, giving an early indication of the scale of the jobs crisis Britain is currently experiencing, the Resolution Foundation said today (Tuesday) in response to the latest ONS figures published this morning. Flash estimates from HMRC’s PAYE real-time information … Continued