It looks as if Brexit has stretched out the effects of the financial crisis, and things won’t be looking up until at least 2021.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said in its response to Wednesday’s Autumn Statement that young people will be the worst affected, as the cost of living continues to rise but wages steady out.
Young people were already being hit hardest - pay for workers aged 22-30 fell by 7% between 2007-2014, compared to those over 60 who saw their income rise by 11%.
After Wednesday’s Statement, predicted real wage growth over the next five years is now half the figure estimated in March’s Budget earlier this year (the government’s last financial forecast before the EU referendum in June).
So, although slight increases to wages are expected, there's no sign of inflation slowing down, due to the fall in value of the post-Brexit pound. This means your payslip will have to stretch that bit further each month as millennials continue to earn less than they did before the recession in 2008.
The slower rate of growth also means it will take longer than previously thought for average earnings to increase, with wages not growing for at least a decade, according to IFS director Paul Johnson. Sigh.
The Office for Budget Responsibility added that the uncertainty around Brexit will affect investment and productivity, with the UK being £30bn worse off by 2021 than the government's previous predictions before the referendum.
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom on Wednesday, as chancellor Philip Hammond announced the abolition of letting fees thanks to our Make Renting Fair campaign, tax-free allowance increasing to £12,500 by 2021 and a £1bn investment into superfast 5G broadband.
So you might not be able to afford to buy new clothes every month, but at least you won’t have to wait for Netflix to buffer so much.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.