The latest economic figures published today also show that far from experiencing a strong recovery the UK is now experiencing the slowest rate - just 0.3% - of quarterly growth since the end of 2012.
The TUC says 2010-2014 is unique in seeing a drop in real household disposable incomes, which combine wages, benefits, taxes and inflation.
It is the worst 5-year period for living standards for at least half a century (directly comparable records begin in 1960).
RHDI – a yardstick of living standards that takes account of incomes, benefits, taxes and inflation – was 0.6% lower in the half-decade ending in 2014 than in the 5 years ending in 2009, when it rose by 6.9%.
Austerity to blame
The TUC says this provides further evidence that the government’s austerity programme, which began in 2010, is more to blame for the loss of living standards than the financial crisis that preceded it. The government’s deep and rapid cuts killed off the recovery, causing growth to flat-line and wages to remain in decline for years longer than official forecasts.
PCS has consistently campaigned for an alternative to austerity calling for:
- investment in public services
- job creation
- investment in renewable energy and infrastructure
- affordable housing to be built
- an end to privatisation of public services
- the £120 billion annual tax gap to be closed.
All of this would generate revenue – people are billed for electricity, buy tickets to travel on public transport, and pay rent for council housing.
Research by Richard Murphy (of Tax Research) has shown that the state recoups 92% of the cost of creating new public sector jobs – through lower benefit payments and increased tax revenues.
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