Poorest hit hardest by inflation
Soaring inflation in recent years has hit those on the lowest incomes harder than those at the top, the Living Wage Commission said in a report out today. Weekly spending by the lowest paid 10 per cent rose by 43 per cent from 2003 to 2012, the report found. Over the same period the national minimum wage increased by five per cent. Housing costs are a major share of this, with house prices almost tripling from 1997 to 2012.