http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2878106/ALEX-BRUMMER-Farewell-zero-society-Ed-Miliband-s-judgements-appear-running-steam.html
Farewell to the zero society as Ed Miliband's job claims debunked
The underlying numbers, however, are greatly encouraging. The number of people in work in the last year has increased by 588,000 and 95 per cent of the jobs are full-time.
So this is not the zero economy of Miliband’s fevered imagination. It is also worth noting that the claimant count, the best forward indicator of the jobs market, fell by another 26,900 in November – a helpful precursor of the future.
What also is significant is the trend in real wages. It may be a long time before the £1,600 fall in living standards during the recession years, part of Labour’s standard rhetoric, is eliminated.
No one should lose sight of the fact that in Britain the jobless rate is half that of our eurozone partners. That partly reflects the choice of British workers to be in a job, rather than on the dole even if the pay isn’t as good as it should be.
What it is certainly not is George Orwell’s ‘Road to Wigan Pier’.
The truth is that the wage data is encouraging. Headline pay growth climbed 1.4pc in the three months to October and with inflation falling to just 1pc, it means that real wages are heading in the right direction. Over the last two months the annualised wage data climbed by 4pc.
That should be better both for households, with more spending power, and for HMRC because it conceivably might push some people into a higher tax bracket.This may all feel a little academic down the Pig & Whistle.
What is very real will be filling up the car to set off on the final round of Christmas shopping with prices at the pump rapidly descending to the £1 mark according to the RAC’s latest forecasts. That is real money in the pocket and immediately.
Zero society, forget it.