Low wages and statistics

[Young Master Smeet]

It seems the TUC is organising "Fair pay fortnight"

http://fairpayfortnight.org/post/107604905548

Now, one of the stats on that page is: "6.1 million people in working housholds are in poverty" interestingly, I heard a similar stat on Question Time last night, as a pannelist presented as a good thing tjhat a higher percentage of the bottom two income deciles are now in work.  An interesting case of the slipperness of statistics, for her this was an improvement in their lot, but it could equally be, as per the TUC, a siogn that working is not as live improving as politiocians like to pretend.

[Young Master Smeet]

http://www.tuc.org.uk/economic-issues/britain-needs-pay-rise/average-wage-worth-%C2%A32500-less-year-cameron-became-pm-says-tucThe hard facts of class war:

TUC wrote:

Since David Cameron became Prime Minister the average wage is worth £2,500 less a year, the worst fall in living standards since Queen Victoria was on the throne.[…]From April 2010 to April 2014, the value of average gross annual earnings of full-time employees in the UK decreased by £2,509, or 8.4 per cent. Source: ASHE, adjusted by RPI.

This is the real issue of the day, that the prolonged crisis since 2008 has depressed wages and decreased the share of the national wealth going to workers(and the above doesn't include the cuts to the social wage in the form of cuts and restrictions to benefits).  Cameron thinks he can buy votes cheap by asking employers to put up wages (which they may, as a political move to keep their party in power).And the TUC?  It is doing all it can, it would be futile to be a blow hard and demand a general strike now, they are putting up guerilla resistance where they can (see here for a minor union success) but that just points up the necessity of a political response.

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