Poverty

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has today published its annual statistics on the distribution of income in the UK. The latest data cover years up to and including 2011–12. Tomorrow, IFS researchers will publish a detailed report on what these data tell us about living standards, poverty and inequality in the UK. In this observation, we briefly highlight some of the key findings from DWP’s report.

Paul Johnson argues that this is new territory, in an article for the Financial Times, June 2013.

Presentation to launch the Fiscal Studies Special Issue June 2013 on the Microeconomic Consequences of the Great Recession, given at IFS on 12 June 2013.

Today, the Oxford Review of Economic Policy publishes a special issue on Labour’s economic record when in government between 1997 and 2010. As part of this, IFS researchers assess Labour’s record on income inequality and poverty. Here, we summarise our findings and reflect on the main lessons for today’s policymakers.

Presentation given at the IFS post budget briefing, 21 March, 2013.

Total losses are larger than they were in the 1980s, but they are more evenly spread says Paul Johnson in The Scotsman.

This presentation was delivered at the IZA Workshop on 'The Future of Labor: The Effects of the Economic Crisis on the Labor Market, Unemployment and Income Distribution' in Bonn, Germany on 21st February 2013

Article for Prospect Magazine 23rd January 2013.

The Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill proposes to cap the annual increases in most working-age benefits at 1% in cash terms in 2014-15 and 2015-16, in addition to the 1% cap on increases already confirmed for 2013-14. This observation examines the effects of this proposal on incomes and work incentives, and puts this in the broader context of trends during the recession and subsequent fiscal tightening