Monday 4 July 2022 10:54 AM A quarter of Brits do not have savings to last them a month in an emergency trends now

A quarter of Brits do not have enough savings to last them a month if they lose their jobs, while feeble real wage growth has left many households 'brutally exposed' to the cost of living crisis, a new report warned today.

The Resolution Foundation also found less than half of adults could last for more than six months without any income, and just 35 per cent could survive for a year. 

The think-tank also revealed real household disposable income growth for working age families has slumped to just 0.7 per cent a year in the 15 years leading up to the Covid pandemic. This contrasts to 2.3 per cent per year between 1961 and 2005.

Meanwhile, the typical incomes of the poorest fifth of the population are no higher on the eve of the pandemic than they were back in 2004-05, despite GDP per person growing by 12 per cent over this period.

Families in rented accommodation and with young children are particularly exposed as high inflation - 9 per cent according to the latest Consumer Price Index figures - outstrips wage increases, the report said.

Adam Corlett, principal economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: 'Britain's poor recent record on living standards – notably the complete collapse of income growth for poor households over the past 20 years – must be turned around in the decade ahead.'

The left-leaning think-tank found that typical wages are no higher today than they were before the 2008 financial crisis, representing a wage loss of £9,200 per year, compared to a world in which pay growth had continued its pre-financial crisis trend.

Despite the poor record in income growth, the report noted Britain had a 'far better recent record' on employment that had helped to push up living standards for low-income families.

The report found that between 2007-08 and 2019-20, the employment rate rose by 6 percentage points among the poorest half of

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