British business is a tale of profit and lost wages

The economy may be growing, but workers aren't experiencing the prosperity they're used to

Since 2001 the British economy has expanded in real terms by around a quarter, even taking into account the great recession of 2008-2009. But are British households 25% better off? Not at all. The reality is that they have become worse off, with the evidence coming from the ONS's Family Expenditure Survey. In the past economic growth translated into personal prosperity - but now we live in an era where the economy expands but we don't get any better off.

In 2001 the average household in Britain spent 542.50 a week. Zip forward 13 years to 2014 and how much did they have to spend, after taking inflation into account? Just 531.30 a week, or 10 less, despite the much-trumpeted growth. In some ways it's actually worse than that - back in 2001 we spent proportionately less on rent, gas, electricity, rail fares and the other humdrum banalities of modern life. An analysis of the data by Savills reveals that the amount being sucked out of households by rent has gone up by 36% since 2008 alone.

We may be falling into the same trap as US workers who have seen their real incomes flatline or fall for a generation

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