Earnings and prices now rising at the same rate

Today we learned that earnings are now rising at the same rate as prices.

Average weekly earnings - which includes bonuses - are almost always rising year-on-year. But since 2008, prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) have risen faster. That has meant that 'real wages' have been falling throughout this period.

These figures are limited on their own: they don't say anything about the effects of tax and benefit changes on people's 'take home' income. The Office for National Statistics has a separate set of figures for these and the Institute for Fiscal Studies also does research on the impact these changes have.

Today, the latest earnings figures showed weekly earnings rose by 1.7% from February 2013 to February 2014, or 1.4% not counting bonuses.

Yesterday's inflation figures weren't for the same time period. They covered March to March, showing a 1.6% rise in prices (as measured by CPI). The February to February figures show a 1.7% rise in inflation - so the same as the wages rise for the same period.

So it's too early to say - as the BBC did this morning - that wages are now rising faster than prices.

They've since corrected their piece, although there's no mention of a correction having been made.