First published: Prospectmagazine.co.uk, 4/03/2015
It looks as though this recovery has come just in time for the Government
The highly regarded Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) has just published a report, Living standards: recent trends and future challenges, which is already adding some spice to the economic debate in the forthcoming General Election. According to the report, real (inflation-adjusted) median household income in 2014-15 is estimated to have risen by 1.1 per cent, taking it back to where it was before the recession in 2007-08.
Taken at face value, the political responses have been predictable. George Osborne, the Chancellor, said that the report marked a “major milestone in our recovery”. The Government will make every effort between now and the election to persuade people that although the recovery in living standards since the financial crisis has been slow, it is now irrefutable and projected to become more robust….“more:”