{"id":32344,"date":"2011-04-17T14:56:59","date_gmt":"2011-04-17T11:56:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=32344"},"modified":"2016-12-28T16:08:10","modified_gmt":"2016-12-28T13:08:10","slug":"biggest-spending-squeeze-on-families-since-1921","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2011\/04\/17\/biggest-spending-squeeze-on-families-since-1921\/","title":{"rendered":"Biggest spending squeeze on families since 1921"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Squeezed: relative spending power is down to the lowest levels since 1921<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/h2>\n

Families are facing the biggest peace-time squeeze in their spending power since 1921 as wages fail to keep up with soaring inflation, according to a new report.<\/h2>\n

The rising cost of essential items such as oil<\/em>, utility bills, food<\/em> and clothes <\/strong>are set to leave the average household with \u00a3910 a year less to spend in 2011 than two years ago, said the\u00a0Centre for Economics and Business Research<\/span> (CEBR).<\/p>\n

Disposable incomes\u00a0are due to fall by 2% in 2011, following a 0.8% drop in 2010, as cash-strapped consumers suffer the biggest hit to their finances apart from during\u00a0World War Two\u00a0and the recession following the First World War, it added.<\/p>\n

It forecasts that inflation will average 3.9% in 2011 – its highest since 1992 – as January’s hike in VAT to 20% from 17.5% and the rising cost of oil and other commodities continue to drive up prices.<\/p>\n

Pay packets, on the other hand, will rise just 1.9% as unemployment remains high and the public sector makes cut-backs.<\/p>\n

But the Government’s austerity drive is “only a minor element in the squeeze on household incomes”, with the soaring cost of commodities being the major factor, claimed the report.<\/p>\n

Commodity prices are being driven higher by surging demand from emerging economies such as\u00a0China<\/span> and\u00a0supply shocks\u00a0including the conflict in\u00a0Libya<\/span>, which is impacting the price of oil.<\/p>\n

The lack of\u00a0consumer spending power\u00a0means the economy will only grow by 1% in 2011 and will be “subdued” for the next two or three years, said the consultancy. Its forecast is significantly below the 1.7% predicted by Government’s Office for Budget Responsibility.<\/p>\n

The CEBR’s report echoes the views of\u00a0Bank of England<\/span> governor\u00a0Mervyn King<\/span> who earlier this year said consumers’ finances were facing their biggest squeeze since the 1920s.<\/p>\n

A spate of retailers have reported tough conditions on the high street in 2011 as consumers remain cautious, with HMV and\u00a0Dixons Retail<\/span> which owns Currys and\u00a0PC World<\/span> reporting disappointing profits.<\/p>\n

www.thisislondon.co.uk<\/span>,\u00a011 Apr 2011<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Families are facing the biggest peace-time squeeze in their spending power since 1921 as wages fail to keep up with soaring inflation, according to a new report. The rising cost of essential items such as oil, utility bills, food and clothes are set to leave the average household with \u00a3910 a year less to spend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":32345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[846,94],"tags":[5306,5307,802,5308,5309,5305,5310],"class_list":["post-32344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-uk","tag-food","tag-food-prices","tag-oil","tag-oil-prices","tag-spending-power","tag-spending-squeeze","tag-uk-inflation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}