UK employment increase: Miracle or mirage?

The Prime Minister has claimed both jobs and earnings across the UK are rising, despite multiple studies suggesting the ‘jobs miracle’ is not as prodigious as first imagined.

The upcoming election has served up a medley of varying Conservative accusations and statistics that simultaneously blaspheme the opposition whilst praising the endeavours of the previous Government, but analysts are saying the statistics do not paint a wholly truthful picture.

Since the coalition formed in 2010, average earnings – when adjusted for inflation - have fallen by 5.7%, according to politically independent think tank the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS). The IFS also assessed where jobs had been created, and found that public sector jobs had fallen by nearly half a million, while private sector jobs have increased by almost 2.2million.