Living standards in UK fall for the first time since 2014
After the post Brexit devaluation (akin to what might have happened in Greece should they have left the euro) here comes the hangover….This article tells us:
Rising prices and stagnant wage growth have resulted in the first fall in living standards in two-and-a-half years, according to official figures.
Labour market data from the Office for National Statistics showed that regular pay in the UK in February was 1.9% higher than a year earlier and is running below the 2.3% increase in prices.
Despite a fresh fall in unemployment and record job vacancies, economists expect the squeeze on real inflation-adjusted wages to intensify over the coming months as the weak pound affects the cost of living.
The ONS reported a 39,000 increase in employment in the three months to February, while unemployment fell by 45,000 to 1.56m. The jobless rate remained unchanged at 4.7% – its joint lowest since 1975 – and job vacancies stood at 767,000.
Damian Green, the employment secretary, said: “This is yet another strong set of figures, with unemployment at a rate that hasn’t been beaten since the 1970s and more vacancies than ever before. More people are finding full-time jobs and average wages have grown yet again, meaning more families have the security of a regular wage.”
But unions took a different view. Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, said: “Pay packets are taking a hammering from rising inflation and falling wage growth. We now need urgent action to stop another living standards crisis. Working people will want to know when Theresa May is going to do something to help.