The language of “recovery” simply did not fit their facts. On subsequent regional visits, including this one in Wales, talking to companies, community groups and charities, I have encountered the same conundrum. For many, the economic recovery is visible and tangible – in sales, in jobs, in investment. But for others it is barely visible and for some non-existent. How to reconcile the macro data with these micro accounts? Were these stories outliers? Or was I neglecting an important missing ingredient in the UK’s economic fortunes? Put differently, whose recovery were we actually talking about? These questions have a particular resonance here in Port Talbot. Prior to the crisis, unemployment in the local area was similar to the Welsh and UK average at around 5%. But the region was hit hard by the recession, with unemployment peaking at 13% in 2014. Despite recent falls, it remains at 9% – well above its pre-crisis peak and levels in Wales and the UK. Today, over one in five households have no-one in work. Recent uncertainty about the future of the local steelworks, and the jobs of the 4,000 workers there, has further complicated the picture. Here in Port Talbot, the language of “recovery” may also fail to fit the facts. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  Against that background, I want today to take a look at the performance of the UK economy over recent years.
Net savings by UK companies currently stand at around 1% of GDP. That means, when we look at household disposable income per head, we find it has essentially flat-lined since 2009 (Chart 4). Even as GDP has recovered, household incomes have essentially stagnated. Even the notion of the “average household” needs careful interpretation. Looking at a different “average” – the household in the centre of the distribution or median – suggests this flat-lining in disposable incomes may have pre-dated the crisis (Chart 4). Half of all UK households have seen no material recovery in their real disposable incomes since around 2005. Or, put more evocatively and provocatively, the majority of UK households have faced a “lost decade” of income. Next let’s look at employment. The aggregate numbers here are hugely impressive, with 2½ million new jobs created since 2010. The UK unemployment rate has fallen like a stone, from 8.5% in 2011 to around 5% currently. And the news gets better. Chart 5 breaks down these new jobs into full-time, part-time and self-employment. It is clear that the lion’s share of the jobs’ increase over the past few years is accounted for by rises in full-time work. This has been not just a jobs-rich recovery, but a full-time, jobs-rich recovery. Yet the nature of work may matter every bit as much as headline jobs numbers. Work is about more than just the money; it adds to life satisfaction and self-esteem and lowers anxiety and  4  4  Bernanke (2011).