It’s either been impossible for a while, or I’m below average.
Given that I know I’m in a better position than many, I’m deeply concerned for the future.
“Decently” is a bit of a nebulous quality of life, doubly so when taking into account that most folks will look for different things at different stages of their lives: (a 25 year old might think renting a place of their own, on their own, is where they want to be… while a 50 year old might have hoped to be able to own their own property and have (and be able to support) a family).
The money that it takes to make these two things possible are not the same.
That’s not to say there’s no problem here, just that it’s hard to put a pin in who the ‘average worker’ is. Interestingly and perhaps for (something like the) first time, *both* are really feeling the squeeze on this, where you’d normally expect the younger person to be struggling more.
Has been for 30 years.
And I blame every Brexit voter just as much as I do our leaders.
I won’t be putting my heating on at all this winter. Luckily, I’m strong and healthy enough to withstand the cold. I have hot water bottles and fleecy throws to snuggle into over the cold months.
I don’t know how the ill/ those with babies/ the elderly are going to manage. I hope there’ll be government aid they can apply for.
I have been living in London and in France. As same position, pretty much same salary, not even in Paris, way tougher in France
It’s been impossible since I entered the workforce, I entered as a college leaver during the financial crisis, wages stagnated, rents went up, I’ve just been paddling to stay afloat for 14 years, and now I’ve finally started to progress in my career properly and now all I’m doing is just making sure I’m not worse off, I’ll just be financially in exactly the same spot.
Been happening to the working class for over a decade now, it’s only because the middle class are feeling the pinch that it’s getting more exposure
Standards of living are still below 2007 levels, which just shows the real damage austerity helped inflict upon people. It also blows the traditional Tory view that hard work pays off completely out of the water, work is barely letting people buy food in some cases. It may be better here than in other countries (as some people love to point out when articles like this appear), however it is still worse than it is in similar countries and much worse than it should be for the sixth largest economy.
I have an above average earning and its starting to creep on me too… so yes I don’t doubt that the average worker is struggling, and what’s worse is that’s the average… there is 49% of the population that have it even harder than that.
Most of the country can’t afford the basics like food, petrol , heating and water… Wtf has this country come to.
That’s the idea. They don’t *want* you to live decently. They want you to live hand to mouth so you work long hours for low pay just for the ability to wake up in a tiny flat that takes up most of your pay to work for long hours for low pay the next day all to make some CEO and shareholders richer and richer and richer.
They don’t want you to live. They want you to work to make them money.
Time for nationwide strikes!
It depends on your definition of live decently.
What was it brexiters said? “*Something something wages go up*”
Yeah how’s that working out for the underpants gnomes
You will own nothing and be happy
I live on lentils canned tomatoes and water now. Hate to admit this but sometimes I’ll eat grass too.
I earn 30k and it just feels like I’m back on minimum wage nowadays
Reading the comments here makes me sad. You all have my sympathy.
Life should not be this hard for young people. Its not right and its not fair.
Fuck everyone who put you in this position.
capitalism has to die
Yeah,this country sucks arse!!! yet everyone just seems to bend over and carry on taking it !!!
I’m happy.
I left my day job and got a part time job bartending. I work just enough hours to pay my bills and have a few drinks out each week. And that’s it!
I have no desire to make money. I have no savings. Fuck getting rich, working my ass off. No desire to have kids. After my last break up, I am done with relationships. I like my own company. I don’t need or want for anything.
I just want to outlive my dear mother, and then I’m officially done. I’d happily die whenever.
I repeat I am happy, genuinely. I have lost sight of the point of living though. Capitalism is not for me I hate this society we’re choose to live in. I don’t want to be part of it. If I didn’t have a loving family I would have ended this shit years ago.
And ffs don’t report this for suicidal ideation lol. I get that a lot but im not suicidal. I love my life.
Also on closing note I just noticed this is my mates account on my phone can’t be bothered to change it so see how she reacts later…
This isn’t an opinion. this is a fact.
The heating and energy crisis will impact non London far more than London residents. I’ve lived in plenty of places in London and the energy bills are nothing compared to the midlands and the north.
So the median salary for full time workers is £31k, and the mean is £38k.
For all workers the median is £26k, and the mean is £31k.
Considering those wages haven’t really went up over the past wee bit, they’ll be worth £3-5k less now in real terms. £26k isn’t gonna get you a decent life the now, even £31k isn’t great. So you have a majority of workers on not great wages, and they’re still increasing the cost of living.
Any wonder this country has a drinking problem
I make about 30k+ and its near impossible to save and i live in the north, if i spend any money on anything that isnt mortgage/council tax or bills then i wouldnt have saved anything, how is a person supposed to start a family or raise one even?
At this point, aren’t we beyond opinion? It’s hardly “subjective” anymore. More of an objective truth.
I sense this too, online, but out I wonder why is everyone driving around in Range Rovers and new BMWs if everyone is broke?
Im fortunate to be on a good income and I have my car from 2013 still.
The problems are foreign investors buying up all the property’s,over 100k Hong Kong people came here an estate agent told me they buy multiple propertys up 1 to live in rest to rent out,then you have the Chinese, they spent over a billion in the northwest alone!! They’re doing the same in Canada, Europe, US,new Zealand Australia
This is the Tory way, and the will of the people. Full neo-liberal thatcherite state achieved!
I wonder how a person who want to be single suppose to survive and buy his own flat if two incomes are not enough
Haha. You lot have been supporting the bosses importing cheap labour for the past 20 years.
Finally, finally you realise that it’s lead to low wages and high property prices. Well DUH!
33 comments
It’s either been impossible for a while, or I’m below average.
Given that I know I’m in a better position than many, I’m deeply concerned for the future.
“Decently” is a bit of a nebulous quality of life, doubly so when taking into account that most folks will look for different things at different stages of their lives: (a 25 year old might think renting a place of their own, on their own, is where they want to be… while a 50 year old might have hoped to be able to own their own property and have (and be able to support) a family).
The money that it takes to make these two things possible are not the same.
That’s not to say there’s no problem here, just that it’s hard to put a pin in who the ‘average worker’ is. Interestingly and perhaps for (something like the) first time, *both* are really feeling the squeeze on this, where you’d normally expect the younger person to be struggling more.
Has been for 30 years.
And I blame every Brexit voter just as much as I do our leaders.
I won’t be putting my heating on at all this winter. Luckily, I’m strong and healthy enough to withstand the cold. I have hot water bottles and fleecy throws to snuggle into over the cold months.
I don’t know how the ill/ those with babies/ the elderly are going to manage. I hope there’ll be government aid they can apply for.
I have been living in London and in France. As same position, pretty much same salary, not even in Paris, way tougher in France
It’s been impossible since I entered the workforce, I entered as a college leaver during the financial crisis, wages stagnated, rents went up, I’ve just been paddling to stay afloat for 14 years, and now I’ve finally started to progress in my career properly and now all I’m doing is just making sure I’m not worse off, I’ll just be financially in exactly the same spot.
Been happening to the working class for over a decade now, it’s only because the middle class are feeling the pinch that it’s getting more exposure
Standards of living are still below 2007 levels, which just shows the real damage austerity helped inflict upon people. It also blows the traditional Tory view that hard work pays off completely out of the water, work is barely letting people buy food in some cases. It may be better here than in other countries (as some people love to point out when articles like this appear), however it is still worse than it is in similar countries and much worse than it should be for the sixth largest economy.
I have an above average earning and its starting to creep on me too… so yes I don’t doubt that the average worker is struggling, and what’s worse is that’s the average… there is 49% of the population that have it even harder than that.
Most of the country can’t afford the basics like food, petrol , heating and water… Wtf has this country come to.
That’s the idea. They don’t *want* you to live decently. They want you to live hand to mouth so you work long hours for low pay just for the ability to wake up in a tiny flat that takes up most of your pay to work for long hours for low pay the next day all to make some CEO and shareholders richer and richer and richer.
They don’t want you to live. They want you to work to make them money.
Time for nationwide strikes!
It depends on your definition of live decently.
What was it brexiters said? “*Something something wages go up*”
Yeah how’s that working out for the underpants gnomes
You will own nothing and be happy
I live on lentils canned tomatoes and water now. Hate to admit this but sometimes I’ll eat grass too.
I earn 30k and it just feels like I’m back on minimum wage nowadays
Reading the comments here makes me sad. You all have my sympathy.
Life should not be this hard for young people. Its not right and its not fair.
Fuck everyone who put you in this position.
capitalism has to die
Yeah,this country sucks arse!!! yet everyone just seems to bend over and carry on taking it !!!
I’m happy.
I left my day job and got a part time job bartending. I work just enough hours to pay my bills and have a few drinks out each week. And that’s it!
I have no desire to make money. I have no savings. Fuck getting rich, working my ass off. No desire to have kids. After my last break up, I am done with relationships. I like my own company. I don’t need or want for anything.
I just want to outlive my dear mother, and then I’m officially done. I’d happily die whenever.
I repeat I am happy, genuinely. I have lost sight of the point of living though. Capitalism is not for me I hate this society we’re choose to live in. I don’t want to be part of it. If I didn’t have a loving family I would have ended this shit years ago.
And ffs don’t report this for suicidal ideation lol. I get that a lot but im not suicidal. I love my life.
Also on closing note I just noticed this is my mates account on my phone can’t be bothered to change it so see how she reacts later…
This isn’t an opinion. this is a fact.
The heating and energy crisis will impact non London far more than London residents. I’ve lived in plenty of places in London and the energy bills are nothing compared to the midlands and the north.
So the median salary for full time workers is £31k, and the mean is £38k.
For all workers the median is £26k, and the mean is £31k.
Considering those wages haven’t really went up over the past wee bit, they’ll be worth £3-5k less now in real terms. £26k isn’t gonna get you a decent life the now, even £31k isn’t great. So you have a majority of workers on not great wages, and they’re still increasing the cost of living.
Any wonder this country has a drinking problem
I make about 30k+ and its near impossible to save and i live in the north, if i spend any money on anything that isnt mortgage/council tax or bills then i wouldnt have saved anything, how is a person supposed to start a family or raise one even?
At this point, aren’t we beyond opinion? It’s hardly “subjective” anymore. More of an objective truth.
I sense this too, online, but out I wonder why is everyone driving around in Range Rovers and new BMWs if everyone is broke?
Im fortunate to be on a good income and I have my car from 2013 still.
The problems are foreign investors buying up all the property’s,over 100k Hong Kong people came here an estate agent told me they buy multiple propertys up 1 to live in rest to rent out,then you have the Chinese, they spent over a billion in the northwest alone!! They’re doing the same in Canada, Europe, US,new Zealand Australia
This is the Tory way, and the will of the people. Full neo-liberal thatcherite state achieved!
I wonder how a person who want to be single suppose to survive and buy his own flat if two incomes are not enough
Haha. You lot have been supporting the bosses importing cheap labour for the past 20 years.
Finally, finally you realise that it’s lead to low wages and high property prices. Well DUH!