When might I start to feel better off?published at 07:48 GMT
07:48 GMT
Michael Race
Business and economics reporter
After all the policy announcements and political rhetoric being banded about yesterday, you might be wondering this morning: when might I start to feel better off?
It’s a mixed picture when it comes to economic growth in the coming years, with difficult times approaching in the near-term, according to the government’s official forecaster the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The UK’s financial watchdog sharply cut its growth expectations for the UK in 2027 as high energy bills hit the spending power of households and business.
Growth recovers towards the end of the decade, but the longer term picture for the country is one of weakness.
Image source, OBR
Delving further into the OBR’s report, I came across this chart on real household disposable income, which is an indicator of living standards, over a period of decades.
It shows that for almost 20 years since the global financial crisis, living standards on average have grown at a much lower than rate they were on average for the latter half of the 20th century.
The chart shows a dip next year as high energy prices hit spending power and while they start to rise again as we reach the end of this decade, the growth in living standards is still way below where they were in the early 2000s.