UK lagging behind G7 rivals in household budgets – research

(Alliance News) - The UK is the only one of the G7 group of countries where household budgets have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels, new research suggests.

The Trades Union Congress said its study indicated that families would be GBP750 a year better off if real disposable income had grown in line with other leading economies.

Real household disposable incomes in the UK were 1.2% lower in the second quarter of 2023 than at the end of 2019, said the union organisation.

Over the same period they grew by 3.5%, on average, across the G7, which includes France, Germany and the US.

The TUC predicted that the contraction in UK household budgets is going to get worse despite falling inflation.

Working people have been left "brutally exposed" to rising costs after years of pay stagnation, said the report.

Workers are on course for two decades of lost living standards with real wages not forecast to recover to their 2008 level until 2028, according to the TUC.

It estimated that the average worker has lost GBP14,800 since 2008 as a result of their pay not keeping up with pre-global financial crisis real wage trends.

TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: "The UK is the only G7 nation where living standards are worse than before the pandemic.

"While families in other countries have seen their incomes recover, household budgets here continue to shrink.

"This is a damning indictment on the Conservatives' economic record.

"Their failure to deliver decent growth and living standards over the last 13 years has left millions exposed to skyrocketing bills and is pushing many deeper into debt."

source: PA

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