Take home pay is down, before rates increase

Its latest Take Home Pay Index suggests disposable income growth slipped to an annualised rate of 3.3% in October, the lowest for six months, and well down on the 5.2% figure seen in June and July. Pushing down income growth has been a rise in unemployment, although the effects are not uniform. Pay growth in manufacturing, for example, is higher at 4.2% while services pay growth is down to 2.6%. Voca says the unemployment increase is partly a function of the rise in employment overall, which means the labour market now has “spare capacity”. Stuttering consumer confidence as a result of t...