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Commenting on figures published today (Tuesday) by the Office for National Statistics which show that the average household incomes in the UK have fallen from 5th to 12th among advanced economies between 2005 and 2011, TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady said:

date: 14 May 2013

embargo: For immediate release

Commenting on figures published today (Tuesday) by the Office for National Statistics which show that the average household incomes in the UK have fallen from 5th to 12th among advanced economies between 2005 and 2011, TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady said:

'The combination of recession and austerity has taken its toll on household finances, with income levels in the UK falling behind many of its European neighbours.

'Even before the recession, household spending in the UK was far more reliant on debt than in other advanced economies. In order to address this as a country we need to obsess less about housing bubbles and focus instead on securing decent pay rises and creating better paid jobs.'

The ONS statistics compare economic well-being across the 34 countries in the OECD on a range of factors including household income, consumption and wealth, inflation and unemployment.

The UK has also fallen from 9th to 21st in the OECD rankings over the last six years on unemployment rates, though the rise in joblessness has been far less sharp than some countries such as Ireland, Spain, Greece and Portugal.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- The ONS statistics are available at www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_310463.pdf

- The TUC campaign plan can be downloaded from www.tuc.org.uk/campaignplan

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Follow the TUC on Twitter: @tucnews

Contacts:

Media enquiries:
Liz Chinchen T: 020 7467 1248 M: 07778 158175 E: media@tuc.org.uk
Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Alex Rossiter T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07887 572130 E: arossiter@tuc.org.uk

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