FAMILIES in Britain are suffering the worst decline in household income of any of the G7 countries listed as the world’s most advanced economies.
Britain is the only one of the seven not to have regained levels of household incomes which existed before the Covid-19 pandemic — and the government is to blame, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) said in a report released today.
The report said that if real disposable income had grown in line with other leading economies, households would be £750 a year better off.
And it warned that the decline is to get worse. The government’s own Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that real household disposable income per head in Britain will fall by an additional 3.4 per cent by the end of March.
The G7 countries are Britain, Canada, US, Japan, France, Germany and Italy.
The report compares disposable incomes in Britain with the other G7 countries during the second quarter of 2023.
In the UK incomes fell by 1.2 per cent while increasing an average 3.5 per cent in the rest of the G7.
The TUC said in December that unsecured debt in the UK — such as credit cards, loans and hire purchase agreements — is expected to rise by £1,400 per household this year.
It blamed the Conservatives’ failure to grow the economy and deliver healthy wage growth for pushing many households further into debt and warned that “working people have been left brutally exposed to rising costs after years of pay stagnation.”
The average worker has lost £14,800 since 2008 as a result of pay not keeping up with pre-global financial crisis real wage trends, the TUC said.
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.”
He said 13 years of Tory failure “has left millions exposed to skyrocketing bills — and is pushing many deeper into debt.”
“We can’t go on like this. Britain cannot afford the Tories for a day longer,” said Mr Nowak.
