Pay aint wot it used to be ...

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Figures from the Office for National Statistics for the April to June quarter showed that wages, including bonuses, fell by 0.2%. Excluding bonus payments, wages were up by 0.6%, the slowest growth rate since 2001, when records began.

The number of people in work rose 167,000 on the previous three months with 132,000 fewer people out of work.

graun

if i don't have a £ how can i pay back my underpaid tax George?

[Serial_Apologist]

graun

if i don't have a £ how can i pay back my underpaid tax George?

I would have thought this provised incontrovertible proof: forget about purchasing power being part of any economic equation - what they're new engaged in is remodelling capitalism on the backs of working people with no need for apologies for the naked exploitation involved, while at the same time brandishing the unemployed to remind what they're doing to worsen their lot, as well as what lies in store for those who have the nerve to believe earnings should keep up with inflation.

[Flosshilde]

Apparently the experts at the Bank of England are flummoxed about the drop in unemployment coupled with a drop in wages. You'd think that they hadn't heard that there are an unusual number of people setting up as self-employed (which removes them from the unemployment figures - Thatcher had a similar wheeze - but doesn't mean they get a very large income), and the increase in zero-hours contracts, which does the same thing. Of course that doesn't fit with the theories. Perhaps they should call in the Queen to explain - remember her simple question at the London School of Economics about the bank crash (or one of the other financial disasters) - why didn't you see it coming?