JAMIE MCGEEVER: Who knew? The global economy is booming
'The value of all goods and services produced globally this year will be around $80 trillion, which is expected to grow by about 3.5 percent next year, possibly even nudging 4 percent for the first time since 2011'
The dark clouds of stagnant wages, widening inequality and chronic productivity across much of the Western world are shrouding one of the most remarkable and easily forgotten facts of the year - the world economy is booming. The value of all goods and services produced globally this year will be around $80 trillion, which is expected to grow by about 3.5 percent next year, possibly even nudging 4 percent for the first time since 2011.Wages in the euro zone are rising at almost half that rate, and at 1.4 percent currently have rarely grown more slowly. Wages rose an average 2.3 percent a year pre-crisis and just 1.7 percent since, even as the unemployment rate has plunged from its 2013 peak. Thanks to a mix of low wage growth and a surge in inflation since the 2016 Brexit referendum, workers in Britain are mired in the longest fall in living standards since the Second World War. People are still feeling the effects of the deep austerity and spending cuts many Western governments push...
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