考研阅读精选：工资不涨物价涨，家庭开支受影响

『物价飞涨增加了家庭开支，而工资收入却原地不动，这使许多家庭难以应付从而改变了购物习惯。』

　　Households budgets hit by frozen pay and rising food prices

　　工资不涨物价涨，家庭开支受影响

　　August 3, 2011 | From The Guardian

　　Only one in four workers has received a pay rise this year while food prices are continuing to climb, according to two new reports underlining how household budgets are being squeezed.

　　The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said one in 20 workers had suffered a pay cut since January, while three in five have had their pay frozen.

　　Meanwhile, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said food prices were up by more than 5% on a year ago and shoppers were increasingly looking for bargains – four out of every 10 items going through supermarket tills are now on promotion.

　　Public sector workers have borne the brunt of the pay freezes, with more than three quarters seeing their pay pegged – compared with just over half of workers in the private sector – as the government spending cuts get under way.

　　Workers in the manufacturing and finance sectors are most likely to have received pay increases, the CIPD said.

　　Geographically, the worst off were those working in north-west England, where three-quarters reported that their pay had not gone up since the start of the year.

　　Charles Cotton, a public policy adviser at the CIPD, predicted there would be better news for some of the lowest paid workers in the second half of the year: "We will see some increase in the number of private sector workers receiving a pay award in the second half of 2011, especially in the retail, catering and hotel sectors, as the increase to the national minimum wage comes into effect in October.

　　"However, given that the busiest time for pay awards in the private sector is between January and May, most of these workers who have not received a pay rise so far will now probably not get one at all."

　　Food prices in July were up 5.2% year on year, according to the BRC and research group Nielsen, while shop prices overall were 2.8% higher.

　　Stephen Robertson, director general at the BRC, said the pressure on budgets was forcing people to change their shopping habits. "People are increasingly taking advantage of promotions to help mitigate against the full impact of inflation, so the effect of food inflation faced by consumers will be less than 5.2%."

　　He said high commodity costs and the rising cost of imports were still the key factors behind the increasing prices on the high street but pointed out that 39% of all groceries being bought in supermarkets were now on offer.

　　A few sectors saw price falls. Clothing and footwear prices were 1.9% below where they were a year ago, the BRC said.

　　Electrical goods were 3.8% cheaper last month than in July 2010, reflecting weak consumer confidence. Sales of electrical goods have plummeted in the past year, with specialists in the sector including Dixons, Argos and Comet all reporting dire trading conditions.

　　Mike Watkins, senior manager for retailer services at Nielsen, said: "We have seen sales volumes slow across both food and non-food retailing in recent weeks with shoppers still looking for savings to help pay for increases in other household bills such as transport and energy.

　　"Retailers have responded with a continuation of price cuts and promotions to stimulate demand at a time when many households are shopping differently to help manage household budgets. Looking ahead, we are optimistic that, whilst prices will still be higher than last year, the rate of increase may start to slow later in the year." (571 words)