Tuesday 14 August 2012

Poorer every month as a result of inflation

Latest UK inflation figures surprise to the upside.  But don't worry, they tell us, it's just another temporary blip.  The problem is all these temporary blips add up.  And what do they add up to?  Well, combining inflation figures with the Average Weekly Earnings survey data from the ONS we get the nice chart below.  Average wages for the past twelve months have been 6% lower in real terms than they were in the 2007/08 tax year and there appears to be no recovery in sight.