Economic security rests on stronger, fairer growth

Frances O'Grady General Secretary of the British Trades Union Congress (TUC)
Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC)

©Sarah Turton

Years of global recession, stagnation and slow uncertain recovery prove we do not yet have the right economic model to secure the sustained, strong growth that will be vital to social and economic progress in the years ahead. 

IMF research has shown that both growth and fairly shared gains are vital, with lower income inequality delivering faster and more durable economic improvements. But in too many cases action has failed to follow the evidence, with devastating consequences for working people across the world. 

The UK provides a case study of just how broken this economic model is–and why it needs to be fixed. While our labour market recovery has been presented internationally as a runaway success, rising job levels are only half the story. Workers across the UK have now endured years of falling real wages, and underlying rates of pay growth remain very far below their pre-crisis trend. The last five years has been the worst period for UK living standards on historical record. The incomes squeeze has come not only from reduced rates of pay growth.

Read the full article here. 

©OECD Yearbook 2015

See also:

2015 OECD Yearbook

2015 OECD Forum

 




Economic data

GDP: +0.43% Q1 2017
Employment rate: 67.2% Q4 2016
Annual inflation: 2.4% Apr 2017
Trade: +3.0% exp, +4.0% imp, Q1 2017
Unemployment: 6.008% Mar 2017
LOOKING AHEAD: The outlook, to judge by factory order books, building permits, long-term interest rates and other "leading" indicators that point to future activity remains modest at best. Click curve to find out more country trends.
Updated: 14 June 2017

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