Resolution Foundation Event Recordings

In Britain, one in five couples have no children, and almost half of all families have only one. The populations of China, Japan, Russia and Italy are shrinking. Falling fertility is a common theme across many countries with different histories, cultures and policy responses to the trend. The consequences of falling fertility on society are profound – from changing family structures to labour market shifts and economic trajectories. And yet there is a poor understanding of why it’s happening.

A new book Generation Maybe by Camilla Cavendish sheds fascinating new light on the issue – from deep dives into the data to conversations with families and policy makers across the world. The Resolution Foundation is hosting an event where Camilla will be joined by RF President David Willetts to discuss the themes of her new book, and the lessons it leaves for policy makers and wider society.

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/