UK inflation hits new 40-year high of 9.4% as cost-of-living crisis deepens

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. UK workers suffer their biggest pay drop in two decades as inflation bites

UK workers suffer their biggest pay drop in two decades as inflation bites

By Anna Cooban, CNN Business

Updated 12:28 PM ET, Tue July 19, 2022

London (CNN Business) -- Workers in the United Kingdom are struggling with the biggest drop in pay in more than two decades, as surging food and energy prices take a giant bite out of wages.

Real pay — workers' wages that take inflation into account — slumped by 2.8% between March and May compared to the same time last year, according to data released Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics. ... That's the fastest decline since the ONS began keeping records in 2001.

Earlier this month, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned after a series of ethics scandals proved too costly for the government to brush off. His successor, which is currently being decided, faces a daunting set of economic and financial challenges.

For months, rising global energy and commodity prices — worsened by Russia's invasion of Ukraine — have helped stoke global inflation. The world's fifth-largest economy has been one of the hardest hit among the world's wealthiest nations. ... UK consumer prices hit a 40-year high of 9.1% in May, the highest among the G7 leading economies — and is forecast to climb above 11% later this year despite a series of interest rate hikes.

{snip}