Google Inc. is constructing an
inflation measure that might eventually provide an alternative
to official statistics, using its database of Internet shopping
figures, the Financial Times reported.
The rate of Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rose to 4.5%, from 4.4% in July, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure increased to 5.2% from 5%.
Overall the rise in VAT is likely to cause higher inflation, reduced GDP growth and some job losses in 2011 and into 2012 - so some deterioration in three microeconomic indicators at the expense of improved government finances. But in the long term a 20% VAT rate is unlikely to have any noticeable effect on UK competitiveness and growth. The long-term trend GDP is driven by supply side factors such as technological progress, working age population growth, improved work and enterprise incentives and the scale and quality of capital investment spending).
Conversely, if the jobless total rises by Easter, inflation edges above 4% and consumers save rather than spend, Labour will be able to say that it is the coalition that has messed things up, killing off growth with its ill-timed and harsh austerity programme.
The median salary for a full-time worker in the UK rose 1.4% in 2011 to £26,244, against a headline CPI inflation rate of 5% or higher
Progress in closing the gender pay gap has also slowed, with women in full-time employment earning on average £5,409 less than men – the gap narrowed by £179 in 2010 compared with £558 in 2009.
In the first half of 2010, the story was that the big emerging economies – India, China and Brazil – were acting as the locomotive for global growth. But during the second half of 2010, there were signs of the United States and Germany joining the party