Living standards of low, mid-income families in Britain to stagnate

Millions of low to middle-income households in Britain are heading for a long period of stagnant living standards over the next decade, a report released on Wednesday by the Commission on Living Standards showed. "Even with a return to steady growth, it's now entirely possible that living standards for a large swath of low and middle-income households will be no higher by 2020 than they were in 2000," said the report. Millions of poor and middle-income households may be bypassed by any economic recovery, the reportsaid, adding that stagnation of living standards cannot be avoided unless bold steps were taken. It blamed the weak jobs market as one of main factors affecting the income of households. "Since the financial crisis fed through to the real economy in 2009, employment has fallen and wages have failed to keep pace with inflation across much to the earning distribution," said the report. The squeeze has reportedly reduced net incomes in low to middle-income households by 7.5 percent since 2007-2008. According to the survey conducted at the end of 2011, one-third of low to middle-income families said they had "no idea what their income would look like in a year's time while one in five was having difficulty paying for their accommodation and more than one-third were struggling to obtain credit. Workers in such sectors as retail, manufacturing, construction and public administration have had longer spells of unemployment, according to the report. The commission, consisting of private and public sector employers, economists, experts and trade union leaders, focused their investigations on jobs, pay, cost of living and family patterns.