Living Standards to Be Lower in 2015 Than in 2010, IFS Warns

George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer

THE GUARDIAN: Delivering its judgment on George Osborne's autumn statement, Institute for Fiscal Studies backs claims by Ed Balls that family budgets are being squeezed hard

Britain's leading experts on tax and spending have said that living standards would be lower at the end of the current parliament than at the start as they backed claims by the shadow chancellor Ed Balls that family budgets were being squeezed hard under the coalition.

Delivering its judgment on George Osborne's autumn statement, the Institute for Fiscal Studies took issue with the way Labour had calculated its estimate of a £1,600 loss to the average family in the three years since the coalition came to power in 2010 but said it was "pretty consistent" with survey data showing a big drop in household incomes between 2009-10 and 2011-12.

Paul Johnson, the IFS's director, said there was a lack of reliable figures for the current year, but added: "We do know from household surveys that income fell sharply in 2010 and 2011. It is almost certainly significantly lower now than it was in 2010.

"And while it should start to grow it will surely still be below its 2010 level by the time we get to the election in 2015." » | Larry Elliot and Philip Inman | Friday, December 06, 2013

Most Britons Face 60 Percent Income Loss in Retirement
REUTERS UK: Almost two-thirds of people living in Britain today are likely to see a 60 percent drop in their income when they retire over the next 40 years and a plummeting quality of life, a report said Thursday.

The 15 million households earn between 18,000 and 44,000 pounds each and represent roughly 35 million people, according to the study by London's Chatham House think-tank.

Their incomes will take the biggest hit from retirement compared to the lowest and highest 20 percent of earners.

"The UK has a distinct problem with middle-income earners who are failing to save enough and are likely to find the drop in income during retirement unexpected and unacceptable," said Paola Subacchi, one of the report's authors. >>> Reporting by Olesya Dmitracova; Editing by Steve Addison | London | Thursday, March 10, 2011

Britons Must Steel Themselves for a Sharp Fall in Living Standards
THE TELEGRAPH: Britons must steel themselves for a fall in living standards which could be as sharp and painful as in the 1970s, as the western world faces up to a new era of stagflation, a former Bank of England policymaker has warned.

Willem Buiter, one of Gordon Brown's first appointees to the Bank, said Britons face a "painful couple of years", and urged the Monetary Policy Committee to raise rates twice to cap inflation.

His warning followed Friday's chaotic day of trading on Wall Street, where oil prices soared more than $11 to a new record high just below $140 a barrel and the Dow Jones index of leading shares fell by 400 points. Investors expect a fraught day today as trading opens in Asia and Europe.

With the price of oil now higher in real terms than in the 1970s and early 1980s, economists warn consumers will have to absorb a similar amount of financial pain. Britons Must Steel Themselves for a Sharp Fall in Living Standards >>> By Edmund Conway, Economics Editor | June 9. 2008

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