Disposable incomes are falling at their quickest rate in six years, according to the Office for National Statistics, in yet another sign that economic uncertainty is hitting British households.
The amount that families have to spend, after tax and benefits are taken into account, fell by 2 percent in the first quarter of 2017. This came despite the gross domestic product per head in the UK remaining unchanged on the previous quarter, and rising by 1.3 percent on the same period last year.
The main reason for the hit to household disposable income was the rise in inflation, which hit 2.3 percent in the year to March.
The figures mean that real household income per head has now fallen for three months in a row. Over the same period wages grew just marginally faster, with a growth rate of 2.1 percent.
According to the Trades Union Congress, it is up to the government to begin creating better-paid jobs in order to provide an economic boost for UK households.
“It’s official. Britons are getting poorer,” said Frances O’Grady, the TUC’s general secretary.
“Having just lived through the longest wage squeeze since Victorian times, their living standards are in freefall again. The government cannot sit on its hands and watch this crisis unfold.”