Dr Jonathan Cribb

This article considers the phenomenon of income inequality.

Despite increasing numbers of young people taking a gap year, there is little evidence on the characteristics of gap year takers, their motivations for taking a gap year,what they do whilst they are out of education and what effect this decision has on their longer-term outcomes. This report aims to fill these gaps, by providing quantitative evidence from two datasets on gap year takers in the UK.

How have household incomes evolved since the onset of the financial crisis? What is the gap between rich and poor? Who was hit hardest by the recession? How many people are there in poverty? Which groups are most likely to face poverty? This report looks at the trends in poverty, inequality and living standards using the most recent government data.

Parallels are increasingly being drawn between current economic circumstances and those of the 1970s. In this Briefing Note we take the opportunity to reflect on a few of the ways in which economic life has changed since the Silver Jubilee year.

Report commissioned as part of the Centre for Understanding Behaviour Change (CUBEC) at the University of Bristol