Resolution Foundation Event Recordings

The UK labour market has changed profoundly over the past decade. The introduction of the National Living Wage, the rise of the gig economy and the legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic have prompted changes to the way we work. Further changes lie ahead too – from new employment rights protections to growing questions over the impacts of AI on jobs. And yet beneath all this change some aspects of the labour market – including many of its challenges like inactivity, low productivity and weak dynamism – feel remarkably similar to a decade ago.
Has a wider disengagement with work contributed to increased levels of inactivity?  Has what people value in their jobs – and how hard they are willing to work – shifted in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and could this help explain weak productivity growth? How far can attitudes to work help to explain the lack of dynamism in the economy? And how worried are workers about their jobs being displaced by AI?
The Resolution Foundation is hosting an in-person and interactive webinar to debate and answer these questions. Following a presentation of key findings from the latest British Social Attitudes (BSA) Survey, an expert panel will discuss how and why attitudes to work have changed over the past 10 years, and what these might mean for the UK labour market today and in the years ahead.
Read the research here: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/work-in-progress/ 

Budget 2026 needed to deliver on three fronts – easing cost of living pressures, taking forward the Prime Minister’s economic agenda and reassuring the markets about the state of the public finances. Delivering any of these objectives is hard enough. Delivering all three, against a backdrop of turmoil in the global economy, is devilishly difficult. How did Budget 2026 measure up to them?
With
Jonathan Haskel
Chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility
Stephanie Flanders
Head of Bloomberg Economics
Greg Thwaites
Interim Chief Economist at the Resolution Foundation
Ruth Curtice
Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation (Chair)

No two labour markets are alike. But in recent years the UK and the US have rhymed. Both have seen decent pay growth for the lowest earners, though by different routes: a rising minimum wage in the UK, and a tight post-pandemic labour market in the US. Both have disappointed in the middle: the US has generated impressive productivity gains but not shared them with typical workers, while, until very recently, the UK hasn’t had any productivity gains to share. And yet they differ sharply on jobs: the US remains an employment laggard among 25-54 year olds, while the UK does far better on prime-age employment, even as unemployment has risen to around 5 per cent.
How should we approach the labour market challenges facing the US and UK? What are the roles of policy makers, labour market instructions and business in building labour markets that benefit everyone? And are there lessons that each country can take from each other, both in terms of policy successes and failures and wider trends to watch out for?
To answer these questions, the Resolution Foundation is hosting an event with leading labour market experts from both sides of the Atlantic. We will be joined by the world-leading minimum wage expert Professor Arin Dube to discuss his new book The Wage Standard, along with Professor Stephen Machin of the LSE. The event, organised with the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics and Political Science, is part of the ESRC’s Festival of Social Science that is taking place at venues across the country throughout October and November. Further information about the festival can be found here.
Find the slides for this event here: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/fixing-broken-labour-markets/ 

Disability support and especially Personal Independence Payments (PIP) is failing on two grounds – spiralling costs are putting pressure on the public finances and those that need the benefit have lost faith in the system. But while there is widespread support for reform, that is where the consensus ends – with politicians tending to focus on the potential savings, rather than how a new system could better enable millions of disabled people to flourish. Getting this right is crucial for any reforms to be sustainable.
What types of additional costs do disabled people face, and how does this vary by condition or age? How can disability benefits respond to the sheer breadth of these costs and conditions, and how can it be better matched to people’s actual needs? Who might receive more, or less, under a reformed disability benefit system ? And can reform deliver the savings that politicians are keen to see?
The Resolution Foundation is hosting an in-person and interactive webinar to debate and answer these questions and more. Following a presentation of the key highlights from our major new research on  PIP recipients, we will hear from leading disability experts on how reforms can better match support to the diverse needs of disabled people.
Find the slides for this event here: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/a-new-deal-for-disabled-people/
Read the research here: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/hard-truths/ 

Parliament is sitting for the first time since Andy Burnham took office and his government must now face a series of difficult trade-offs, and not a lot of money to help ease them. How the new PM handles them will be critical to the success of both his government and the country.
Domestic issues loom large as concerns about the cost of living persist and public services continue to struggle. Questions remain about how Burnham’s devolution agenda will be delivered in practice, and whether it can foster greater equality between the regions. Hard choices must be made on how to fund new policy commitments, notably the Defence Investment plan and even more ambitious NATO targets. And with geopolitical crises causing shocks that are increasingly being felt at home, whether through inflationary pressures or rising energy and food costs, it’s unlikely to be a smooth road ahead.
What are the biggest public policy challenges facing the new Government? How should the PM balance his domestic agenda with a turbulent foreign landscape? What might this shape the Budget next month? And how can the Government address these challenges in a way that resonates with a more and more fragmented public?
Read the research here: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/policy-landscape-2026/

The UK’s net zero transition will have a major impact on our industrial mix and labour market. While the majority of new ‘green jobs’ are likely to be spread thinly across the UK, some local areas – particularly in the North of England and Scotland – will be much more acutely affected by the transition. How this is managed, and the effect on local living standards, is highly uncertain however – the replacement of old jobs with new ‘green’ ones, or the development of new low-carbon workforces, won’t happen overnight.
To better understand the local impact of the UK’s net zero transition, the Foundation has spent the past six months diving deeply into two areas that will be at the heart of this change – Aberdeen and Grimsby. Will Aberdeen ever be able to replicate the oil-based riches of past decades? How can Grimsby maximise the clean energy opportunities taking place in and around the town? Where should net zero sit in the Government’s industrial strategy and in its push for more devolution? And what is the likely impact on living standards?
Read the research here: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/second-wind/

In recent decades, fiscal policy in the UK has delivered the worst of all worlds. Satisfaction with key public services has fallen, taxes are at a record high, and yet levels of debt – and the cost of servicing it – have still shot up. Successive Prime Ministers and Chancellors have failed to face up to the true state of Britain’s public finances. The task now falls to PM-in-waiting Andy Burnham and whoever his Chancellor may be. If they fail to rise to the challenge, the trade-offs on public services, taxes and benefits will get very painful.
How does Andy Burnham’s inheritance compare to his predecessors? What have been the biggest mistakes of fiscal policy in recent decades? Where is the UK’s debt trajectory heading if current tax and spend decisions continue? Is growth the only possible escape route? What kind of policies should the new PM and Chancellor consider to get the public finances on a healthier footing?
Read the report here: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/the-great-escape/

For the first time in over a decade, over a million young people across Britain are not in employment, education or training. The causes of the crisis are myriad and complex, but at least one of the ways out of it is straightforward – businesses need to be incentivised to take on more young people. However,  these incentives could  take many forms, and finding the right hiring solutions is a crucial issue being explored by Alan Milburn’s Review into young people and work.
What is really holding businesses back from hiring young people today? Is it high labour costs, a lack of appropriate skills, or are other barriers at play? What kinds of incentives have worked best in other countries? Are wage subsidies more effective than tax cuts? And how much might a bold new package for employers cost?
The Resolution Foundation is hosting an in-person and interactive webinar to debate and answer these questions, featuring a keynote speech from Alan Milburn. Following a presentation of the key highlights from new Resolution Foundation research, we will also hear from leading employers and experts on how businesses can be incentivised to take on more young people.