Disposable incomes have fallen for the second year in succession, and the decline is set to continue. That’s the message from Statistics Finland, whose figures show the longest decline in incomes since the severe recession of the 1990s.
People have had to tighten their belts in the last few years as the financial crisis has had a sustained impact on Finnish incomes. The last two years have seen a decline in real incomes as the recession continues to bite.
Olli Savela of Statistics Finland says unemployment has had an effect, but pay restraint and increased taxes and social charges are also to blame for the fall in spending power.
2013 and 2012 both saw falls of 0.3 percent in disposable incomes. This kind of sustained decline has not happened for around 20 years-when Finland was in the depths of a severe recession.
In 1993 incomes fell by as much as 6 percent in one year-a considerably worse impact than that felt by today’s workers. That’s likely to be little comfort to those feeling the pinch as their pay packets are stretched even further each month, and Savela says that more income contraction is on the way.
“That’s very possible,” said Savela. “In the first quarter household incomes were around two percent smaller.”
Source: YLE
http://yle.fi/uutiset/finns_tightening_belts_as_disposable_incomes_fall/7352812