Schomberg et al don’t provide data on annual real wage growth for the end of 2016, although the ONS publishes such estimates, using the CPI as the deflator. These show a 1.4% increase for October to December 2016, and just 0.3% for December 2016 only. The CPI is unfortunately, a dysfunctional deflator for calculating real wage growth, virtually ignoring homeowership costs. Using the RPIJ as a deflator the October-to-December real growth rate was just 1.0%, and the December real growth rate just 0.1%. Even these growth rates are on the high side, as the RPIJ excludes stamp duty, which would have brought the inflation rate up.

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