News about households

The TUC estimates UK households have paid an extra £13,961 on bills on average since 2021, or £2,792 a year, amid soaring inflation and a difficult backdrop including the Covid crisis, war in Ukraine and war in Iran. TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said working people have borne the brunt of successive crises and that high bills are squeezing consumer spending and holding back the economy. A Resolution Foundation study found working families are £2,900 a year worse off over the past five years compared with inflation at around 2 per cent a year. Its chief economist James Smith said any new help must be targeted at the poorest families, starting with energy bills, as public finances leave less room than ever to provide support.

The column reflects on how the Philippines has repeatedly faced economic crises tied to political turmoil, from the 1983 debt crisis to coups and leadership changes, and now faces added pressure from a global geopolitical crisis. Citing First Metro Securities' Estella Villamiel, GDP growth averaged 2.6% year-to-date in 2026, one of the weaker periods outside the pandemic era. Household consumption remains the main driver but its contribution has moderated, capital formation is the primary drag on growth, and government spending and exports provide support. The fiscal deficit reached 5.8% of GDP in the first half, government debt is about 66% of GDP, and international funding is getting harder to secure. Household demand has softened in recent quarters, according to consumer sentiment, retail and vehicle sales data.

The Federal Reserve's 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances, released on 9 October 2026, found that a record 37% of US families lacked a good idea of their income for the following year, up since the 2019 survey. Even so, the share of families reporting unusually high or low income fell from 28% in 2022 to 23% in 2025, and real median family income rose 7% from 2021 to 2024, to $82,200. Over the same period, the unemployment rate rose from 3.7% to 4.2%, and the share of families with overdue loan payments climbed from about 12% to almost 20%. Meanwhile, the University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index fell to 46.3 in October 2026, and the report does not establish why families became more uncertain or whether they were unemployed or facing income losses.