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    [OC] Average Income of UK Working Households
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    [OC] Average Income of UK Working Households

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    1. cavedave on

      People in the UK are now very poor now compared to the trend it was on before the Financial Crises.

      This is disposable income which is income after tax and after social welfare payments.

      ‘disposable income measure, which is the amount of money households have available for spending and saving after direct taxes have been accounted for. It includes earnings from employment, private pensions and investments as well as cash benefits provided by the state.’ https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/householddisposableincomeandinequality/financialyearending2022

      Data from ons

      https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/datasets/householddisposableincomeandinequality it is released in September for the year before so only up to 2023 now. But 2024 is not expected to help much.

      Python matplotlib code up at

      https://gist.github.com/cavedave/1083d866f78760b036263a98cb68c1dc

    3. Drivos on

      The wealth is still there, just in fewer pockets. If this keeps up, there will be guilliotines.

    7. Hot_Cheesecake_905 on

      Brexit and COVID occurred at the same time, it would be interesting to see which has had more impact on incomes.

    10. TukkerWolf on

      Is the data somehow corrected for household-size? I can imagine that with decreasing household-sizes the average income per household also decreases..

    12. Xerphiel on

      This is great, presumably using by CPI inflation? I’d love to see an inflation measure which includes housing, e.g CPIH.

    14. Dippypiece on

      It says house hold does this mean two working adults?

      As two adults on full time minimum wage would be on £48k annual combined before tax come April.

    18. totoer008 on

      70K feels about right taking into account my middle management position and skills involved. I am even applying for such income brackets but requirements are slightly higher…

    19. Shot-Ad-6189 on

      The chart says **average income**, but the axis says **disposable income**. Which is it?

      That trend line is pure wishful thinking. We grew like this for so long, so we expect to grow forever. Based on what? Neoliberal economics relying on endless growth is not proof of that endless growth is possible. The conditions that allowed for it in the late 20th century no longer exist. 🤷🏼‍♀️

      The population boom is over. The oil boom is over. Human beings can’t keep being better off than their parents forever. Eventually kids will just have to make do with the same as their parents had, like every other period in human history. Disposable income was very stagnant in medieval times too. At least we’re going back to a four day week.

      The data in this graph is beautiful. It shows how our societies need to change in the face of economic reality. The arbitrary line imposed on top is meaningless. Why should it keep going up like that? How would everyone getting more and more and more on top of what they actually need, forever, work in the long term? Is a mean disposable income of £70k even desirable? Shouldn’t we raise the tax burden and fix some potholes before everyone gets a Merc?

    20. Lumpy_Dentist_5421 on

      Disposable income?? (Left hand scale) seems very unlikely, and this descriptor contradicts the headline ‘average income’