Labour market A tough gig? The nature of self-employment in 21st Century Britain and policy implications 20 February 2017 by Daniel Tomlinson and Adam Corlett This Resolution Foundation analysis looks at the recent growth in self-employment. It focuses on: the sectoral make-up of the UK’s 5 million self-employed workers; the drivers of this growth since the recession; how the self-employed are treated differently in terms of tax and employment rights; and what policy challenges this raises. Key findings: Nearly 60 … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Living standards· Inequality & poverty· Intergenerational Centre As time goes by: shifting incomes and inequality between and within generations 13 February 2017 by Adam Corlett This is the Resolution Foundation’s fourth report for the Intergenerational Commission, which over the course of 2017 will examine issues of intergenerational fairness and make recommendations to strengthen the intergenerational social contract. This paper, building on previous work on the earnings of different generations, examines household income. Specifically, it looks both at changes in income … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Inequality & poverty Living Standards 2017: the past, present and possible future of UK incomes 31 January 2017 by Adam Corlett and Stephen Clarke This is the Resolution Foundation’s eighth annual state of the nation report on UK living standards. It comes at a time when the recovery from the last downturn is still incomplete for some, yet the threat of a new squeeze on living standards looms large. The financial crisis hit households hard, yet in the last … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Cities and regions A western union: living standards and devolution in the West of England 26 January 2017 by Conor D’Arcy This May, voters in the West of England elect a Metro Mayor, with new powers over transport, skills and welfare-to-work policies, as well as the chance to bring economic leadership to their area. The area – comprising Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire – has outperformed most other city regions on a … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Welfare You’re hired! Lessons for President Trump from a comparison of living standards and inequality in the US and the UK 23 January 2017 by Daniel Tomlinson This report sets out how, despite moving in step politically of late, the US and the UK economies have had somewhat different economic experiences since the financial crisis. The most notable divergence is on employment – the issue that President Trump put at the front and centre of his economic pitch to voters. As the … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Productivity & industrial strategy· Cities and regions Forging ahead or falling behind? Devolution and the future of living standards in the Sheffield City Region 19 January 2017 by Stephen Clarke This report outlines some of the key living standards facing the Sheffield City Region. Worryingly the delay to devolution means that local leaders will have fewer powers than their counterparts elsewhere to address these. As a result it is important for the current impasse in the devolution process to be resolved. Assuming that that the shape … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Demographics· Intergenerational Centre Live long and prosper? Demographic trends and their implications for living standards 16 January 2017 by David Finch People are living longer. This is good news of course. A longer life is in and of itself a boost to living standards for individuals and reflects a more prosperous society. But it raises challenges too. For the individual, living longer creates a need for greater lifetime income to sustain a given standard of living. … Continued READ MORE
Labour Market Outlook· Labour market· Pay The RF Earnings Outlook Q3 2016 21 December 2016 by Laura Gardiner and Torsten Bell Two big 2016 events dominate our view of the labour market and likely developments in the coming years – the introduction of the National Living Wage (NLW) in April, and the result of the EU referendum in June. This final Earnings Outlook of the year – capturing data up to Q3 – provides an opportunity … Continued READ MORE
Labour market· Productivity & industrial strategy· Low pay· Pay Industrial strategies? Exploring responses to the National Living Wage in low-paying sectors 20 December 2016 by Conor D’Arcy This report provides another contribution to evidence on the impact of the National Living Wage to date. READ MORE
Living standards· Productivity & industrial strategy· Cities and regions Midlands engine trouble: The challenges facing the West Midlands Combined Authority 12 December 2016 by Conor D’Arcy In May 2017, residents of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) will go to the polls to elect its first ‘Metro Mayor’. The WMCA – comprising Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton councils – is also at the heart of the government’s wider ‘Midlands Engine’, which aims to boost the economy of this … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Secret Agents: agency workers in the new world of work 5 December 2016 by Lindsay Judge and Daniel Tomlinson Through the course of this report we have uncovered much new information about the lives of the UK’s ‘secret agents’. We have found two groups of agency workers – the permanent and the self-employed – who have been missing from all previous accounts. We have discovered what agency workers do, where they work and who … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Productivity & industrial strategy· Cities and regions New Order: devolution and the future of living standards in Greater Manchester 29 November 2016 by Stephen Clarke In May 2017 Greater Manchester will go to the polls to elect the region’s first ‘Metro Mayor’. Greater Manchester has been at the forefront of the current programme of devolution and the new mayor will wield more power than any other city leader. However, it will be on the results of how this power is … Continued READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Public spending· Economy and public finances Bending the rules: Autumn Statement response 24 November 2016 by Adam Corlett and David Finch and Laura Gardiner and Matthew Whittaker Our morning after briefing for Autumn Statement 2016. READ MORE
Living standards· Economy and public finances· Political parties and elections In the swing of things: what does Donald Trump’s victory tell us about America? 18 November 2016 by Daniel Tomlinson and Stephen Clarke Post-election analysis has highlighted the importance of demographic, economic and cultural factors in the US election result. In this slide pack we consider why different parts of America voted as they did. We look across 93 per cent (2,932 of 3,143) of US counties spread across 46 states including the 11 battleground states. We test … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Budgets & fiscal events· Living standards· Public spending· Economy and public finances· Welfare Under New Management: options for supporting ‘just managing’ families at the Autumn Statement 7 November 2016 by David Finch and Matthew Whittaker The new Prime Minister has been very clear in her determination to put the interests of ‘just managing’ families at the heart of her government, but she has inherited tax and benefit plans which are set to lower incomes for many in the group over the remainder of the parliament. With post-EU referendum revisions to projections for … Continued READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Public spending· Tax Changing Tax: pressing reset on the UK’s tax policy 5 November 2016 by Matthew Whittaker In this note, we consider how the Chancellor might reset the UK’s tax policy in the Autumn Statement, with a particular focus on the personal allowance threshold and corporation tax. READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Public spending· Economy and public finances Pressing the reset button: the public finance options facing the new Chancellor at the Autumn Statement 5 November 2016 by Matthew Whittaker In the run up to the Autumn Statement, the Chancellor has already indicated the need for a fiscal ‘reset’. While this has been over-interpreted as a hint of a radical shift in macro-economic policy, it simply represents recognition of the need to drop his predecessor’s fiscal pledges if he is to avoid making significant additional … Continued READ MORE
Pay· Living Wage Calculating a Living Wage for London and the rest of the UK 31 October 2016 by Conor D’Arcy and David Finch This paper sets out the method for determining the independently-calculated Living Wage rates in London and the rest of the UK, and the respective rates that will apply from 31 October 2016. It is built on the findings of a report published by the Resolution Foundation in July 2016 and the views of the Living Wage … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Productivity & industrial strategy· Cities and regions· Economic growth City living: devolution and the living standards challenge 20 October 2016 by Stephen Clarke Significant devolution is planned for Britain’s major city regions. The powers that may soon be devolved are, in terms of recent history if not international comparisons, unprecedented in scope. In May 2017 some cities will elect a region-wide Mayor which will provide fresh political impetus. Furthermore, Theresa May’s new government has signalled her support for … Continued READ MORE
Low pay· Pay· Living Wage Low Pay Britain 2016 18 October 2016 by Stephen Clarke and Conor D’Arcy This is our sixth annual report on the prevalence of low pay in Britain. It uses the latest data available (2015) to map out the scale of low pay and the groups that are most affected. It shows how this has changed over recent decades and looks at what the coming years might hold, particularly … Continued READ MORE
Labour Market Outlook· Labour market· Pay The RF Earnings Outlook Q2 2016 18 October 2016 by Adam Corlett The second quarter of 2016 marked both the introduction of the National Living Wage and the vote to leave the European Union. There are tentative signs that the former has led to strong shared pay growth without affecting aggregate unemployment, but more data will be needed. Referendum effects are not yet visible, but Q2 2016 … Continued READ MORE
Labour market· Tax Double take: workers with multiple jobs and reforms to National Insurance 1 October 2016 by Adam Corlett and David Finch The tax treatment of workers with multiple jobs may be reformed as part of proposals by the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) to more closely align National Insurance (NI) and income tax. The current system of NI largely operates on a per job – rather than per person – basis, allowing a worker with two … Continued READ MORE
Incomes· Living standards· Inequality & poverty Hanging on: the stresses and strains of Britain’s ‘just managing’ families 29 September 2016 by David Finch New governments have no record on which to be judged, meaning that a great deal of emphasis is placed on what they say. Our new Prime Minister has made it clear that her government will focus its attention on working families with relatively low earnings – those who are ‘just managing’. That approach has been … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Demographics· Intergenerational Centre· Political parties and elections Votey McVoteface: Understanding the growing turnout gap between the generations 23 September 2016 by Laura Gardiner Renewing the intergenerational contract relies on broad engagement in the democratic process across the generations. This is not least the case because any new policy agenda will require public support, in order for democratically-elected politicians to pursue it. In this light, the generational turnout gap that has opened up since the mid-1990s – and was … Continued READ MORE
Living standards Examining an elephant: globalisation and the lower middle class of the rich world 13 September 2016 by Adam Corlett The UK’s vote to leave the EU, the US presidential election and proposed free trade deals have all prompted renewed debate about the winners and losers of globalisation. The two decades before the financial crisis were “a heyday of global trade integration” in which international trade as a share of the global economy rose dramatically. … Continued READ MORE
