Low pay· Pay More than a minimum: The review of the minimum wage – Final report 12 March 2014 by James Plunkett and Alex Hurrell and Conor D’Arcy The final report of the Resolution Foundation’s review of the future of the National Minimum Wage. The review has worked for the past nine months under the chairmanship of Professor Sir George Bain, the founding chair of the Low Pay Commission, exploring whether the minimum wage and its supporting architecture could do more to tackle … Continued READ MORE
Low pay· Pay Minimum Wage Act II 21 February 2014 by James Plunkett and Conor D’Arcy and Tony Wilson The national minimum wage is no longer strong enough to tackle the country’s low pay problem and the policy will need to be reformed if it is to repeat the successes of its first 15 years. Professor Sir George Bain, the founding chair of the Low Pay Commission which recommends the rate of the minimum … Continued READ MORE
Living standards The State of Living Standards 11 February 2014 by James Plunkett and Alex Hurrell and Matthew Whittaker Household incomes are set to start rising again in 2015 after six years of decline according to the Resolution Foundation. The findings come in a detailed and authoritative assessment of the state of Britain’s living standards. However, the report from the independent think tank also finds that growth in disposable income for the typical household … Continued READ MORE
Labour market A Polarising Crisis? The changing shape of the UK and US labour markets from 2008 to 2012 14 November 2013 by James Plunkett and João Paulo Pessoa The polarisation of the UK labour market intensified during the great recession and its aftermath as low- and high-skilled jobs expanded while middle-skilled jobs fell as a share of employment. This report, produced in collaboration with the London School of Economics, lends credence to concerns that the long downturn may have pushed the UK towards … Continued READ MORE
Low pay· Pay Fifteen years later: A discussion paper on the future of the UK National Minimum Wage and Low Pay Commission 4 July 2013 by James Plunkett and Alex Hurrell In 15 years the UK National Minimum Wage (NMW) has evolved from a bold and experimental labour market intervention into a permanent and generally uncontroversial tool of economic policy. The Low Pay Commission (LPC), enshrined in law in 1998 to recommend the rate of the NMW, has won widespread support, with its decisions endorsed by … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Sizing the UK ‘Jobs Gap’ 12 March 2013 by James Plunkett The UK is more than 800,000 jobs short of the amount it would need to restore employment rates to those seen before the recession, a study from independent think tank the Resolution Foundation has found. While the number of people in employment had climbed by 160,000 since 2008 to nearly 30 million, this positive news … Continued READ MORE
Living standards Gaining from growth: The final report of the Commission on Living Standards 31 October 2012 by James Plunkett Millions of households are heading for a long period of stagnant living standards unless bold steps are taken to ensure that growth over the next decade is broadly shared. Even with a return to steady growth, it’s now entirely possible living standards for a large swath of low and middle households will be no higher … Continued READ MORE
Housing Priced Out 27 December 2011 by Donald Hirsch and James Plunkett and Jacqueline Beckhelling New analysis shows that the rising cost of essentials had already wiped out most of the gains in living standards made in the early 2000s by families on low and modest incomes, even before the recession began, with increases in the price of food, fuel and other basics greatly outstripping general inflation in recent years. READ MORE
Labour market The Missing Million: The potential for female employment to raise living standards in low to middle income Britain 10 December 2011 by James Plunkett The rise of female employment has been a central chapter of the story of living standards in the past 40 years. Yet even while reliance on women’s work has grown, the absolute pace of growth has faltered. After rising 7.4 percentage points in the 1980s, the UK female participation rate rose just 1.4 percentage points … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty· Economic growth Growth without gain?: The faltering living standards of people on low-to-middle incomes 27 May 2011 by James Plunkett The living standards of people on low to middle incomes were already faltering prior to the recession, and it is no longer safe to assume they will rise when economic growth returns. Growth without gain? explores the boom years 2003 to 2008. READ MORE
