The End of the Pay Rise?

Analysis

BBC

News, Politics

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 July 2014

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Something strange has been happening in the British economy. For over six years now, wages have fallen for most of us, which is unprecedented in British modern history. And despite the return of economic growth, wages still have not picked up.

What has happened? And crucially is this a long term problem - is this the end of the pay rise? Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, explores the mystery of our falling wages and finds out how it is related to how productive we are, but also to how wages themselves are shared out between the top earners and the rest of us.

Producer: Estelle Doyle

Contributors: ** Nikki King, Honorary Chairman, Isuzu Trucks UK ** Andy Haldane, chief economist, Central Bank of England ** Jonathan Haskel, Professor of Economics, Imperial College Business School ** Paul Gregg, Professor of Economic and social policy, University of Bath ** Nick Crafts, Professor of Economic History, Warwick University ** Andrew Sentance, former member of Central Bank MPC ** Matt Whitaker, Chief Economist, Resolution Foundation ** Nicola Smith, Trade Union Congress ** Sarah Collyer, Peter Murphy, Hillary Rogers from Isuzu Trucks UK.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.5	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:18.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.
0:36.0	Thank you for downloading analysis from the BBC.
0:40.0	This week Paul Johnson investigates why despite recent economic growth we're still earning less than before and asks is this the end of the pay rise?
0:50.0	Something strange has been happening with the economy and if you want to know what the answer concerns Peter Murphy's patio.
0:58.0	No really, here's Peter himself talking about a day when he had some bad news.
1:03.4	The day that I came back from work when I just been notified that I had the 5% pay cuts and
1:09.3	I just remember saying to my wife or haven't had the best day at work and she said well I've got some news that will cheer you up
1:15.2	the guy that we've been asking about you know doing the patio at the back is just
1:18.9	confirmed that he can do it in a couple of weeks time I thought this is probably just not the best time to give
1:24.3	this news but you know I had two young kids aged 11 and 10 it wasn't the best day I'd
1:29.8	ever had at work. Peter Murphy kept his job but is getting paid less, like a lot of us. On average,
1:37.0	our incomes now are lower than they were back in 2007. That explains why we've been hearing so much about living standards recently.
1:45.0	After all, the patio still needs doing.
1:48.0	I'm Paul Johnson, the Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies,
1:52.0	and one of the things we try to do is
1:54.4	understand what drives our living standards and how government policy affects
1:59.1	that. In this program I want to explore what has happened to Pete, and millions like him, and to ask what might happen next.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.