Today’s report from the Resolution Foundation, ‘The State of Living Standards’ details the decline in living standards for many people in work in cities like Cambridge, and follows recent evidence from the Centre for Cities showing that real incomes fell on average £31 a week in Cambridge last year. The Resolution Foundation conclude that:  “it has become harder to live a comfortable life on a modest or even typical income in modern Britain”, and that: “households have taken a large and permanent hit to their living standards.”

Cambridge Labour Parliamentary Candidate Daniel Zeichner says that these accounts tally with the daily experience of many people in the city who read accounts of prosperity in Cambridge with disbelief:  “Over the last few weeks I’ve met graduates working in supermarkets for just above the minimum wage, and young people working in shops on contracts that guarantee only five hours a week, as well as families who haven’t had a pay rise in three years but see bills regularly rising. One woman in Newnham last week told me: “the bills are killing us.”

Today’s report from the Resolution Foundation and the Centre for Cities study revealing real wages falling in Cambridge last year show why local shopkeepers and businesses are facing such a tough time – without more money in the pockets of ordinary people, this is not a sustainable recovery. Put simply, the vast majority of working people in Cambridge need a pay rise.”