Notwithstanding the above, it’s interesting to read some of the reaction to the recovery.
Vince Cable came out to say that we had the wrong kind of recovery even before the figures were released. Even Osborne and Cameron have been fairly guarded and careful to comment that we have a long way to go.
The point about needing more exports/investment for a balanced recovery seems to be fairly widely accepted. What’s interesting is the point made on this blog about the composition of the recovery. Services have recovered; manufacturing and construction are still well below their peak. You can see this in the jobs data: manufacturing and construction losing jobs overall while net gains are made in sectors like healthcare and real estate.
What this seems to mean is that overall earnings are under pressure not because employers are not offering pay rises to existing employees, but because new entrants and re-entrants to the job market are taking lower paid jobs.