We study household income inequality in both Great Britain and the United States and the interplay between labour market earnings and the tax system. While both Britain and the US have witnessed secular increases in 90/10 male earnings inequality over the last three decades, this measure of...

This paper estimates the effects of entering the labour market when the economy is weak on subsequent living standards using consistent long-running household survey data from the UK. In line with previous research, we find persistent scarring effects on employment and earnings. However, we also...

Despite some convergence, the gender pay gap remains large. In this study, we use BHPS-USoc data to document the evolution of the gender pay gap in the UK over the past 25 years and its association with fertility. We also investigate the potential role of various differences in career patterns...

This report examines changes in the distribution of household incomes in the UK, and the determinants and consequences of recent trends. This includes analysing not only changes in average living standards, but also inequality in household incomes and measures of income poverty and deprivation....

The "affordability" of housing is one of the most prominent domestic public policy issues of the day, and for good reason. The housing that people are in is an important determinant of their well-being, and it is something on which people - especially those on lower incomes - typically spend a...

It is now around a decade since the financial crisis that triggered the Great Recession of 2008-09. In many respects, the impacts of this recession on the living standards of UK households have been unusually severe. Median household income is now around 15% below its long-run trend, having...

In April 2013, council tax benefit (CTB), which provided help for low-income households with their council tax, was abolished. In its place, local authorities (LAs) in England were charged with designing their own council tax support (CTS) schemes for those of working age - though they were...

The official statistics on the distribution of income and the extent of poverty in the UK in 2011-12 were released on Thursday 13 June 2013. Using the data underlying these statistics, this report analyses: •the changes in average incomes in the most recent year of data and the period since...

This report presents projections of relative and absolute income poverty among children and working-age adults in every year to 2016-17, and in 2020-21. The aim is to estimate the implications for household incomes- and hence, income poverty- of what we know about tax and benefit policy and...