Skip to main content

Improving public understanding of the social costs of the recession

Our research project into the stagnation in real wage growth in the UK labour market since 2003.

A hand takes a coin from a purse
Our research looked at the impact of the recession on employment, particularly in young people

In 2014, 4.8 million UK workers earn less than the Living Wage; and working-age unemployment remains at nearly 2 million. Professor Paul Gregg has been a major contributor to new thinking on youth unemployment and opportunity on both sides of the political spectrum as a member of the ACEVO Commission on Youth Unemployment (2011-12), chaired by David Miliband and a report commissioned by the OECD on options for addressing youth unemployment in Ireland.

His research for the Resolution Foundation shows that the stagnation in real wage growth in the UK labour market in the period since 2003 has been mainly due to the increased sensitivity of real wages to unemployment. This research highlights that real wages in the UK have stagnated since 2003; and that this is unlikely to change until unemployment falls significantly.

Professor Paul Gregg was also featured as part of a video by the Prosocial Progress Foundation.

Research publications

Gregg, P., Fernandez Salgado, M. and Machin, S., 2014. Real Wages and Unemployment in the Big Squeeze. The Economic journal, 124 (576), pp. 408-432.

Gregg, P., Fernandez Salgado, M. and Machin, S., 2014. The Squeeze on Real Wages – and what it Might take to End it. National Institute Economic Review, 228 (1), R3-R16.

Gregg, P., 2014. Options for an Irish youth guarantee : OECD youth action plan. Other. OECD.