Brexit has already cost the average worker a week’s pay because of low real wage growth and higher inflation.
A new report from the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) at the London School of Economics has revealed prices since the referendum have shot up while real wages have now shrunk for six consecutive months.
The report for the UK in a Changing Europe is the first detailed statistical analysis of the referendum’s effect on inflation, wages and living standards.
It estimated that “depreciation and other effects of the referendum increased aggregate inflation by 1.7 percentage points”.
Brexit is the biggest redistribution of wealth – from the working classes to the super rich – of my lifetime. https://t.co/rviFwuzwNO
— Tim Walker (@ThatTimWalker) November 20, 2017
Thomas Sampson, who works on the UK in a Changing Europe research programme and the CEP, said: “Even before Brexit occurs, the increase in inflation caused by the Leave vote has already hurt households. Our results provide compelling evidence that, so far, households are paying an economic price for voting to leave the EU.”
It calculated that the effect of the Brexit vote has been “equivalent to a £448 cut in annual pay for the average worker”. It added: “Put another way, the Brexit vote has cost the average worker almost one week’s wages due to higher prices.”
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