Household incomes fell 0.5% from 2016-17 to 2018-19, hitting living standards. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

Prices are rising and weak wage growth hits UK living standards

According to a leading thinkthank, the UK’s living standards have been hit by Britain’s weak wage growth and rising prices. Furthermore, the Resolution Foundation said household incomes had declined in the period from 2016-2017 and 2018-2019 by 0.5%.

Since the recession of the early 1990s, household income growth had been worse which had brought a weaker performance. Although house prices were in the middle of a six-year decline, real household incomes rose by 0.3%.
Resolution Foundation stated that there is slowdown since the 2016 EU referendum based on the 2019’s audit. The EU referendum was considered as part of a wider stagnation in living standards since the financial crisis strikes. Moreover, UK productivity has growth with an average of 2% in the decades, leading up to the banking crisis, however, since the last 10 years, it has barely risen.

Currently, the employment rate is 3 points higher than in 2007 and the average number of hours worked remains the same at 32 hours and have fallen one hour every four years for over the past century. Based on the report from the Office for National Statistics, the average earnings growth stays at 3.6% with cost living increasing to 1.9%. Furthermore, ONS stated that there had been a slight rise in employment and the jobless rate stays at 3.8% which is the lowest level since the 1970s.

Source: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rising-inflation-threatens-to-hit-living-standards-265s0fsh2