UK Wages fall more than rest of world, equalled only by Greece

Emp_Fab

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36903032

I haven't had a rise since... shit... I can't remember..  2008 I think.

littlegreenman

I got a 0.8% raise, backdated to April as a non pensionable lump sum this month after several years of pay freezes. A whopping £60!!! Oh yeah, that civil service gravy train is alive and well

thermionic

Well, in 2008 I had a 100% pay cut, applied for close to 200 jobs and finally managed to change career. Currently on 54% of my 2008 salary. 

It'll be a long time before I can say my wages have recovered, never mind raised. No wonder I'm a communist.

Sambostar

If the feckless English worked half as hard as the Greeks there wouldn't be a problem.

marantz1300

As long as we keep making billionaires and multinationals interests a priority,everything wiĺl be fine.
They will look after us.

Winny_Pooh

Trickle down economics is a myth (studies show much more money goes back into the economy from the poorest 40% even those on benefits, than by subsidising the rich)  and having a chancellor with no economic qualification (you expect this as a minimum) is hardly smart is it! 

ICBM

Ah, the Brown-Osborne economic miracle...

english_bob

Winny_Pooh said:

Trickle down economics is a myth (studies show much more money goes back into the economy from the poorest 40% even those on benefits, than by subsidising the rich)  and having a chancellor with no economic qualification (you expect this as a minimum) is hardly smart is it! 

Surely it doesn't take an economic qualification to realize that giving one person more money than they can possibly spend in a lifetime is less likely to stimulate the economy than giving a large portion of the population enough money to piss some away in pubs and shops? Once your economic worth passes a certain point, any more is just dead money, surely?

lloyd

english_bob said:

Winny_Pooh said:

Trickle down economics is a myth (studies show much more money goes back into the economy from the poorest 40% even those on benefits, than by subsidising the rich)  and having a chancellor with no economic qualification (you expect this as a minimum) is hardly smart is it! 

Surely it doesn't take an economic qualification to realize that giving one person more money than they can possibly spend in a lifetime is less likely to stimulate the economy than giving a large portion of the population enough money to piss some away in pubs and shops? Once your economic worth passes a certain point, any more is just dead money, surely?

Said nobody earning that much ever. Trying to stop people earning ridiculous sums of money is a pointless exercise.

paulmapp8306

Research funded by the TUC..... Hum.

Im not sure wages have dropped by that margin in actual amount.  Its highly likely it has in real terms - as most companies (plus the public sector) used the financial crisis as an excuse for pay freezes, even when the companies in question were still making a huge profit.  

This along with the "minimum wage" - a complete waste of an idea, as it has been used by most of the historically low payers as a"default wage" - meaning more and more jobs are only paid that amount.  re min wage, there were some jobs where stupidly low wages were offered, but a lot now using min wage would have been higher.  Pay higher wages, get better quality workers in - or used to be - the norm.  Now its all min wage, or just above (to show there not skin flints).

I am on less now than I was 10 years ago - but that is due to leaving the forces (too old) and taking a cut from 38k plus allowances to £20k initially.  That company hadnt given a pay rise in 5 years, and didnt for the 2 I was with them (even though they promised) - but Im now with a Japanese company who have given 1.5% annual rises for the 2 years Ive been with them - and a better salary.  Guess im quite lucky at the moment.

TheMarlin

But, the wealthy have got wealthier. 

JezWynd

TheMarlin said:

But, the wealthy have got wealthier. 

Plundering pension funds is a very lucrative business.

marantz1300

JezWynd said:

TheMarlin said:

But, the wealthy have got wealthier. 

Plundering pension funds is a very lucrative business.

And apparently legal

Moe_Zambeek

marantz1300 said:

JezWynd said:

TheMarlin said:

But, the wealthy have got wealthier. 

Plundering pension funds is a very lucrative business.

And apparently legal

Gordon Brown certainly thought so!

paulmapp8306

He also thought fencing the UKs gold was a good idea.

Jalapeno

I'm paid pretty well, but I do agree about the UK's "Wage Freeze" in public & private sectors (for different reasons).. 

I changed jobs 5yrs ago and and had one miniscule raise since then (£174 per year BEFORE tax) 

joneve

I was lucky enough to get a 4k pay rise in May...mostly because I threatened to leave...so I'm feeling fortunate. I'm sure I'll get fuck all for a good few years now though. 

Evilmags

http://cdn.tradingeconomics.com/charts/united-kingdom-wages.png?s=unitedkinwag&v=201607272114n&d1=19160101&d2=20161231

That is ONS data so I wonder how its been manipulated...

Evilmags

Sporky

Evilmags said:

That is ONS data so I wonder how its been manipulated...

The y-axis doesn't start at 0.

Also, while it's not manipulation exactly, there's no indication of whether that's raw GBP or whether it's been adjusted for inflation and/or cost of living increases.

Either way there's precious little information in that graph.

John_P

Evilmags said:

http://cdn.tradingeconomics.com/charts/united-kingdom-wages.png?s=unitedkinwag&v=201607272114n&d1=19160101&d2=20161231

That is ONS data so I wonder how its been manipulated...

Looks like the TUC figures are based on dividing wages by hours worked rather than weekly wage so I can picture a different story depending on the type of job and probably suggests that people are working more hours.