How bad is the economy and cost of living in the UK compared to 2008?
Posted by Interesting-Day177@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 158 comments
Now I was an 8 year old kid when the housing market crisis of 2008 started but I remember it being in the news. It really hit the Republic of Ireland bad where I’m from, houses were really cheap but a lot of people were struggling to get work and a lot of people emigrated.
From what I know, the UK wasn’t hit as bad as Ireland in 2008, I know I was only a kid, but I feel that the economic situation we went through in 2008 is a piece of cake compared to present day. I really feel that both the UK and Ireland is really going downhill fast since 2008.
Terrible-Group-9602@reddit
In 2008/9 the UK government spent an estimated 23 BILLION bailing failing banks out and 1.3 TRILLION providing them with guarantees to ensure they didn't collapse. For years afterwards the government introduced austerity to try to get government finances back on track which meant all local and national services were a lot worse 5-10 years later than they had been in 2008.
Neko-Chan-Meow@reddit
The banks paid that money back, right?......right?
Prasiatko@reddit
Yep. Or at least the government got shares in them that were sold later.
NotAnotherAllNighter@reddit
Austerity has never worked and yet it seems to continue to be the answer under every government we’ve had since 2008
cvslfc123@reddit
We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas
Foreign_Plate_4372@reddit
It did, austerity was a cover to transfer publicly owned assets in local authorities to the private sector
daddy-dj@reddit
Exactly. It's benefited those it was designed to benefit.
bickmista@reddit
I never understand this, we get loads of debt, gov cuts services etc to reduce expenditure, debt continues to go up. Where does the money go?
Ambitious-Pepper8008@reddit
Ageing society is going to require a greater spend on pension, healthcare, adult social care et
On top of this mass privatisation meaning the government must now spend billions renting assets and services at massively inflated rates to line the pockets of the wealthy.
Cuts to services despite seemingly to save money are a false economy that store up issues for later.
Not to mention a pandemic that left many people disabled and again handed over billions to the wealthy.
Overall government spend and debt can increase despite deep austerity because of all this.
SpaceMonkeyAttack@reddit
It's because most of the things austerity cuts are actually good to invest in. If people are poor, sick, and uneducated, that damages the economy through lowered productivity (which cuts tax income), but it also leads to higher costs to the NHS, higher crime (which has costs to both government and business), and more demand for whatever social services and benefits haven't been cut.
That, and straight up corruption. Lots of money goes on contracts to private sector companies that end up costing more than it used to cost government to do the same thing, and often we find that minsters have ties to those same contracting companies.
littletorreira@reddit
What you have to understand was the economy was recovering in 2010/11. After the effects of austerity kicked in it cratered.
Magneto88@reddit
Because it was still spending at levels predicted on constant growth while the world economy was in melt down. There wasn’t the income coming in to continue government spending at that level without bankrupting the nation.
littletorreira@reddit
Incorrect. You have been fed a line by the Tories. There was money. Austerity killed the economic recovery, economic recovery equals tax income. If austerity worked why were we not in an economic boom pre-covid?
bickmista@reddit
Oh yeah I appreciate that, ultimately I think austerity is a fools game as far as the general public is concerned. Fixing a broken economy requires government spending not frugality. I guess what I'm trying to get across is that the monye "saved" wasn't in trustworthy hands and we the tax payers saw no benefit from the cuts
KatjaKat01@reddit
Because the benefits taxpayers see are the services that were cut.
Plus-Desk-737@reddit
Welfare.
RabidFlamingo@reddit
https://wheredoesitallgo.org/
Da5ren@reddit
So pensioners then.
RetroRowley@reddit
The government have taken money out of the system. That what austerity is.
bickmista@reddit
I understand that as a concept, the money saved from cutting though where did it end up instead is more what I'm asking. Obviously no one knows entirely other than the people that did whatever they did with the money.
Just more of an interesting thought experiment, they should've freed some budget and we should've been able to see that being spent in some meaningful way bit it certainly doesn't feel like we have
Terrible-Group-9602@reddit
Covid. Another 1 trillion spent
bickmista@reddit
Somewhat stolen more like, with the shitty PPE contracts and the COVID app and infosys getting some totally not dodgy contracts etc
fike88@reddit
Crazy isn’t it. It’s the default tactic yet it’s never worked
ENTPrick@reddit
Because for one reason or another, majority of voters seem to think that hitting the most vulnerable and cutting the overall spending is a way to deal with endemic class imbalance and underinvestment. Because Daily Mail tells them fiscal responsibility is a must when it comes to governance.
jasonbirder@reddit
Point me to a Government in recent years that has cut overall spending rather than raised it (in real terms) can't remember if the 2010 coalition did or not...but certainly no Government since ever has - we've seen massive real terms spending increases in the last few parliments.
ENTPrick@reddit
We’re just ignoring the 14 years of austerity and 1% pay rise caps across the public sector for a decade beforehand?
The two child benefit cap, the introduction of UC, the PIP cuts.
It’s funny how some people view the world, as majority of the austerity was “stealth cuts” by freezing salaries across the board, which is funnily enough a cut in real terms, using your own terminology.
jasonbirder@reddit
I'm merely pointing out that however you measure it...cash terms, inflation adjusted, % of GDP etc...
Government spending has gone up in every single parliment...
Please tell me which Government has cut spending IE: "Austerity"
ENTPrick@reddit
I am not sure if you’re being obtuse.
Definition of austerity, fyi - difficult economic conditions created by government measures to reduce public expenditure.
They’re cutting things that drastically decrease the quality of life for general public whilst funding corrupt bailouts, and servicing outstanding loans.
Austerity still exists, but the cuts are insufficient to impact the budget to the point where monetary gains are lowering the budget. So, that must imply expenditure goes up in other areas.. namely pensions, covid related borrowing and corruption, historic loans from various crises.
jasonbirder@reddit
For sure, like i said where have they taken measures to reduce rather than increase public expenditure?
Besides i'm sure increasing spending on pensions & incapacity benefits fits your definition of "increasing the quality of life" for those that recieve it
Ambitious-Pepper8008@reddit
Yes you almost had it...an ageing society is going to require a greater spend on pension, healthcare, adult social care etc...
On top of this mass privatisation meaning the government must now spend billions renting assets and services at massively inflated rates to line the pockets of the wealthy.
Not to mention a pandemic that left many people disabled and again handed over billions to the wealthy.
Overall government spend can increase despite deep austerity because of all this.
ENTPrick@reddit
It’s like I am typing in hieroglyphs, and you pick the two examples that are more or less policy bribery to secure reliable voting block.
“Insanity is doing the exact same thing over and over again and expecting different results”
Weird_Win1505@reddit
It wasn't the austerity that messed things up, it was the preceding profligacy. it put us in the huge debt that necessitated money saving & higher taxes
wdcmat@reddit
Just because it didn't work doesn't mean spending more money would have worked. It might have actually been far worse for all we know. Maybe we were just fucked either way?
Terrible-Group-9602@reddit
The alternative would have been borrowing to spend which would have added to the already huge national debt we have. It was really a rock and a hard place scenario,
MissingScore777@reddit
In hindsight those years were the cheapest money has been in living memory. It was actually the perfect time for government borrowing and investing in the nation's future.
Austerity just meant we paused all that investment and let public services wilt and fester to the point now where investment can no longer wait and money is more expensive so it's going to cost us a lot more.
Johnny-Alucard@reddit
Yes but arguably we’d have less societal decay which would be arguably more important!
MonsieurGump@reddit
Any second now the benefits of closing all those libraries and sure start centres will kick in.
Any.
Second.
Now.
Legitimate_Corgi_981@reddit
Sure start centres has to be one of the stupidest things that they could have cut, they not only saved on costs through reduced hospital/social care costs, they also would have generated greater tax income over the future.
LordAnubis12@reddit
That would require people to think beyond like, 2 years. Remember, countries clearly operate in the same way a household does, and therefore you must cut all spending and never invest in anything
GR63alt@reddit
Yes failing banks would definitely have been great for the economy and social order
Cipriano_Ingolf_Oha@reddit
Thank you. People here are acting as though there was a choice.
Ancient_times@reddit
There were definitley choices available when it came to what terms and conditions the bailout came with, and what regulation would be required in future.
Unfortunately we decided not to bother doing that...
reguk32@reddit
Austerity was never about getting the finances back on track. It was a ideological drive to reduce the size of the state. In the coalition government nick clegg wanted to push forward social housing and george said why would we do that it only encourages labour voters. Austerity times were record low interest rates. Incredibly cheap money that could have achieved so much with proper though out work projects that would have a bigger long-term improvement to the economy from the initial investment.
sgst@reddit
Absolutely this. But also, importantly, the banks repaid nearly all of the bailout money over the next few years - IIRC all but the money that went into public ownership of Northern Rock (which was later sold anyway).
People believing austerity was to pay for the bail outs and/or 'through the roof' welfare spending (as my boss likes to saył is just plain wrong.
Austerity was an ideological and economic policy to harm the worst off in the country, and regular working people were collateral damage. The only beneficiaries were the rich. I mean, look where we are now with ordinary working people struggling to get by, public services absolutely crumbling, child poverty rising immensely between 2010 and 2024 (which should be a scandal by itself), and wealth inequality is through the roof. We didn't get here by accident - it was deliberate, calculated, and immoral.
Relative_Sea3386@reddit
£23b was indeed the net cost to taxpayers. But just to point out the £1trn guarantees were not spent or were recouped - they were crucial for financial stability.
The govt spent £170b on welfare/benefits then. That bill has since ballooned to over £300B a year today and rising.
Scholar_Royal@reddit
Policing has never recovered
ResplendentBear@reddit
2008 was easy if you had a job. Wages weren't going up but interest rates were low and inflation never spiked.
ClaraSepticVersion2@reddit
It’s the same now but it seems to be different employment sectors. 2008 - the financial services sector was hit hard. Now it seems to be hospitality, retail and IT.
IT in particular had a post covid boom and then a slump. There are so many formerly highly paid devs looking for work and it looks like there will have to be another boom to re-employ them all. And another boom in the next few years seems unlikely.
galdan@reddit
No interest rates where much higher think I was at 6 percent or so the crash lost me my house had to start again luckily years later until Covid we had unprecedented low interest rates the like we will probably never see again
ResplendentBear@reddit
Yes, and it was the crash that caused the unprecedented low interest rates.
Before the crash started interest rates were at 5.5%. 15 months later they were 0.5%.
As time and causality only flow in one direction it would be a teensy bit tricky for the banking crash to lower rates before it happened.
Hamsternoir@reddit
Not so easy if you were made redundant in an industry that still hasn't recovered and is in gradual decline
50_61S-----165_97E@reddit
If your industry hasn't recovered from a single recession after almost 18 years then i don't think it's ever going to recover
Hamsternoir@reddit
There were a lot of cuts to budgets and it will be interesting to see when people stop buying magazines all together.
ourmanflint27@reddit
Yeah. Who'd be a doctor, nurse or a care worker. Idiots!!
ResplendentBear@reddit
No, I imagine you'd be pretty fucked. Although 17 years is enough for anyone to change industry.
Silencer-1995@reddit
Yeah for real, do you remember when you'd open the newspaper and go to the job section and it would just be blank pages with a few scattered ads? Obviously the papers did it for effect but it really spelled out at the time how screwed you were if you lost your job.
Which gave companies every right to say "Okay we're sacking you and rehiring you on lower wages. Don't like it? Lol good luck see ya"
Dapper-Train7005@reddit
True, but switching industries isn’t easy for everyone. Skills don’t always transfer, and job markets can be tough to navigate…
cgknight1@reddit
So I was an adult in 2008 and frankly I do not remember the crisis. I was not moving and my job was not impacted. Which is how every crisis is.
Obscure-Oracle@reddit
As a chef, my trade was totally unaffected too during the crunch. Most people i knew at the time didn't feel it at all.
dvb70@reddit
I do remember the crisis but was also not directly impacted. The truth is if you keep your job through such events you probably won't see much direct impact to your quality of life.
DiDiPLF@reddit
Ehh, I worked in an industry that went from champagne receptions and private art viewings to 'business development, but don't spend more than £50' over night. The fun was sucked right up straight away, it took 4 years for redundancy to hit and those 4 years weren't the highlife we were used to.
Leroy-Leo@reddit
I was not moving but I do recall having to drop hours and pay at work during 2008. We did that as it was thought to only be a temporary blip that we needed to ride out.
butterypowered@reddit
Yeah everyone at my workpiece had to take a 10% pay cut in order to avoid redundancies.
cheesewindow@reddit
Same 10% reduction for the permanent people at our place. I was on contract and so had to relocate to the other side of the country for work.
cgknight1@reddit
Yeah - I was in a professional salaried role and it has no impact on my specific role so I just carried on as normal.
The only bit I really remember is the run on Northern Rock.
PipBin@reddit
Yep. Also an adult. I bought my then house in 2002 and didn’t make any money really on it when I sold it in 2013. But I didn’t do as badly as my neighbours who bought just before the crash.
tacticall0tion@reddit
Don't worry, you're going to get to experience 2008 on steroids when the AI bubble bursts....
OpenAI not due to turn a profit for another 4 years, yet still need over 200billion to expand
Nvidia accounting for iirc ¼<⅓ of the total US GDP...
AI start ups being hyper overvalued
If its not a bubble, its due a market correction soon
Legitimate_Corgi_981@reddit
I'm just wondering if AI or Crypto will crash first.
tacticall0tion@reddit
Depending what cracks first
Electricity or the global economy
Relative_Grape_5883@reddit
I don’t think you’ll have long to wait either 26 is going to be to be a hell of a year.
tacticall0tion@reddit
That's where all my current bets are
iwaterboardheathens@reddit
It's a lot worse now
Now there is no hope when in 2008 there was
Impossible_Theme_148@reddit
To give an idea of how bad 2008 was compared to now
In 2024 there were 1730 houses repossessed
In 2008 there were 46,750
There are plenty of other ways to compare which show a similar disparity
VdeKaldor@reddit
Anybody can tell you their own story and that means some people with a steady job (e.g. civil servants) can tell you 2008 was alright to them but now they are struggling with the cost of living or desperate seeing how much their children pay for the rent.
However, if you look at the big picture, 2008 was a million times worse, reading in the Op that it was a piece of cake compared to these days is just embarrassing and in other countries (e.g. southern Europe) it was a bloodbath.
I am from a southern European country myself and moved to the UK after applying for 1000 jobs after I finished my degree. The figure is not an exaggeration, it is real although many of them I guess were not real jobs or I hadnt accepted or stayed there for long.
Candid-Bike-9165@reddit
First job i applied for there was two positions in a warehouse
10,000 people applied
Bashmore83@reddit
Id just moved to London as a 25 year old for work in 08. Soon after made redundant and could only get contract jobs. They were still jobs but having to jump around and constantly be on the hunt for the next job was immensely stressful
KonkeyDongPrime@reddit
I was a graduate in 2007 and I felt royally fucked by my employer by 2009 with them using the recession as an excuse to screw me. Looking back, I can confirm they royally fucked me.
I wish I had bought a house though lol
Feersum_endjjinn@reddit
Bad
Andr0idUser@reddit
Ed Conway did an excellent breakdown of the current financial burden Vs 2008:
Ed Conway - Sky News - Budget Breakdown
Foreign_Plate_4372@reddit
It decimated my home town and it never recovered
Haunting-South-962@reddit
17 bad
mr_iwi@reddit
I earn more and have less disposable income today than I did compared to 2008, so there's my answer.
Any-Republic-4269@reddit
Made homeless in 2908 but could still afford to eat
inevitablelizard@reddit
I was early secondary school age when 2008 hits so of course it feels worse for me today, as I was somewhat shielded back then. But my brother lost his new job at the time and it knocked his life off track for quite a while. 2008 was the first time I felt a bit of anxiety about the economy, the first time I became properly aware of stuff like that.
It feels worse now because I'm working age and stuck living at home in a shit dead end job. If I was in that stage of life in 2008 my view might be different as to which is worse.
Moon-Man-888@reddit
Our salaries are still stuck in 2008 with house prices in the year 2067.
davedoesntlikehats@reddit
Well, stocks now are technical going up so those with assets in stoxks are doing well, those without assets aren't doing so well. It was primarily the reverse back in 2008, but there were job losses and it was very hard to get a job after the crash.
Aggravating_Bar_8097@reddit
Fish and chips for two didnt cost half a days wages in 2008 North and South of Ireland . If and when it happens again this Island is well and truly fucked.
palindromepirate@reddit
It feels worse to me.
PudinaRaita@reddit
I earng 21k in 2008 and had a Mitsubishi Evo 6, I now earn 116k and drive a Honda Civic
loubs56@reddit
Back in 2008, I had young children, and we survived comfortably on one moderate full-time wage. We didn't struggle to pay bills and could afford holidays and had savings. Fastforward 2025, our kids are grown and flying the nest, we both work bring in what should be a good income. However, our savings have dwindled, and every penny covers the bills... just.
Broad-Raspberry1805@reddit
What I remember most is it completely changed the nightlife and high streets in my city.
In terms of nightlife, before 2008 most bars & clubs had dress codes of varying types (no trainers, no jeans etc). After that they almost all relaxed the rules entirely as otherwise they would have had no punters - they were desperate for costumers so were not going to turn people away for not having shoes on. There used to be thousands out on the streets on a Friday and Saturday night, this all came to an end and hasn’t really come back.
For the high streets- you think it’s bad now with boarded up shops. It was way worse during the crisis. Very old established, famous businesses like Woolworths went bust and they never came back. It’s worse with people rough sleeping now though, it’s more like the 1980s.
h00dman@reddit
Yeah the change in the high street was shocking.
Seeing Woolworths close was genuinely eery, but there were other independent shops in town that had existed for decades, survived every other recession and downturn, but 2008 was the final nail.
In my hometown there was a huge independent shop on the main high street that had multiple floors and sold anyone you could think of - the size of a TK Maxx with the variety of goods and layout of a corner shop.
They sold my grandparents their sofa, my mum Halloween costumes for my siblings and I, and you could get your photos developed there too.
I think the only thing they didn't sell was any food and drink that needed to be refrigerated.
That closure was genuinely sad.
Training_Track9999@reddit
This, I came to the UK in 2005 - small city I lived in was booming with people in the night time since Thursday really. 2008 - no one about.
AgreeableStrategy634@reddit
We need to compare apples with apples, and this is hard. Inflation after the 2008s was bad, not as bad as 2022s. Unemployment skyrocketed! But in 2008 I was 20, now I am 40. I have a Senior salary vs Apprentice salary. I live in a 2 bed flat VS renting a room. So yeah, things “improved”.
asuka_rice@reddit
Peston interview liebour and found out that the £21bn debt which U.K. had was actually a £4bn surplus.
Leading_Screen_4216@reddit
The £4bn doesn't exist. It's a predicated value for 2029 based on the latest forecasts.
BonusParticular1828@reddit
Well, 2008 is a bit far for me but I moved to the UK in 2015.
In 2015, when I was a freshly minted 18 year old. I was on £6.70 and felt rich. Rented a room in a nice area of London (Hackney, was very trendy at the time) and had enough leftover to put aside £300 a month
Fast forward 10 years later, on a £80K salary and I live paycheck to paycheck, I rent a flat now, but the average room is £900 - back then it was £350 - £400 a month.
So yeah...
Leading_Screen_4216@reddit
Not able to manage on £80k sounds like a "you" problem.
PipBin@reddit
Eh? Our household income is about £80k. We pay £900 on out mortgage including overpayment, very much not living pay cheque to pay cheque here.
BonusParticular1828@reddit
Nice flat in Chelsea, deliveroo 5 times a week then 2 times restaurants plus other fun things will do that to you. Point is I'm not willing to compromise, but neither did I on minimum wage. Somehow I am worse off heh.
Dapper_Otters@reddit
I find it very difficult to believe you're living paycheck to paycheck on 80k renting a flat. What are your outgoings?
bix_box@reddit
Sorry, how are you paycheck the paycheck on 80k renting a room for £900?
dbxp@reddit
They're in a flat, the room rent was given as a comparison
luke993@reddit
I think what you’re describing is lifestyle creep. There’s not anything wrong with that. When you were 18 you probably didn’t mind living in a bit of a dive
Independent-Sort6898@reddit
My mother could do a food shop on £10 and feed 3 of us for a almost a month when thongs were rough. Going to those same shops now, and buying the exact same things, she'd be very lucky to feed 3 people for a week with £10. Take that how you will, I suppose.
TalosAnthena@reddit
She would be lucky be feed 3 people for a day with £10 nowadays
sewagesmeller@reddit
But you probably could buy basically the same stuff for £10 plus inflation.
LmbLma@reddit
Adjusted for inflation it’s £16.46. You absolute could not stock up on monthly essentials for 3 people with £16.46.
sewagesmeller@reddit
But pay has gone up aswell. Its disingenuous to say, bread cost 1p in 1920 so were all poorer now. We're clearly much richer.
Independent-Sort6898@reddit
Sure, but the money doesn't go as far as it used to. So yes, wages have went up, but the increased inflation means those wages don't cover nearly as much as they used to.
sewagesmeller@reddit
Right but thats not true.
Wages havent outpaced inflation but they havent done worse either. Wages have stalled, so money goes basically as far as it did previously not further.
BBC News - Stalling wage growth since 2008 costs £11,000 a year, says think tank - BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64970708?app-referrer=deep-link
cragglerock93@reddit
That £11,000 'cost' claim is spurious. It's not the figure itself I take issue with, but the claim that we would all be that much richer under the 'normal' course of things. What economy at any point in history has seen constant, uninterrupted, high rates of growth? The claim here rests on the assumption that the economy and living standards 'should' have grown in the 15 years after 2008 at the rate that they did in the years leading up to it. But why should it? It's not a law of nature.
It's a bit like saying that the flight in its first 10 minutes gained 10,000ft, therefore after an hour it should be at 60,000ft.
kizza_reddit@reddit
They are right though, wages don’t go as far as they used to as housing, food and energy costs are high, which is why cost of living is such a problem right now.
JoeTisseo@reddit
What has the quality of thongs got to do with anything?
Fit-Bedroom-7645@reddit
Back then I found out my employer went into administration whilst watching the news on Xmas eve, that sucked a bit. But at least back then shit was cheap. Recently I'm seeing cut backs everywhere and prices are just fucking ridiculous for a lot of things. I'm finally earning ok, but it just doesn't go very far.
Leading_Screen_4216@reddit
I feel for you. I found out I was redundant because no-one came to unlock the office I worked in. Company just collapsed overnight.
Larnak1@reddit
2008 was dramatically worse. Today is a light breeze against the storm of 2008. Obviously not everyone felt the impact in 2008 directly, but that's because governments had to put ginormous efforts into preventing the financial system from collapsing. Entire countries were at the brink of going bankrupt any day.
Not saying it can't get worse, we have a lot of crises globally that are not helping. But currently, it's still fairly smooth overall. Nothing is actively collapsing. It's not great either, but it can't always be great yk.
ronsola@reddit
There’s no comparison. There was concern that there would be a depression and complete economic collapse in 2008.
Professional-Bear857@reddit
Although that concern was unfounded, economists have known how to deal with that type of crisis since after the great depression, and of course Japans experience during the 90s helped out a lot as well. Today things are just stagnant, thankfully the risk of a 2008 style event again is highly improbable, private debt levels has fallen considerably since 2008.
Leading_Screen_4216@reddit
2008 was an absolute bloodbath compared to now. About to half of my friends were made redundant, including me when my employer collapsed. One day I had a job; next morning the office remained locked and we were told to go home as there was no company anymore. I think it was also when prices actually went up the most. I was sending £35 a week on food then, and am only spending about £40 a week now (down from a peek of about £50 two years ago). (And, yes, I know I'm a boring nerd for tracking and categorizing all my outgoings. It's something my parents had to do and so was taught to me.)
Elster-@reddit
I had a small business going into 2007 and due to contracts being cut I had to make everyone redundant and it was just me. Struggled on for several years after. I should have cut my losses and shut the business down and got a job, but there weren’t many jobs for people.
If the same was to happen now I think it wouldn’t be as bad, as there are lots of jobs available. However the pay is significantly lower now than it was back there. The middle qualified roles don’t pay well in the UK and not much difference between the entry roles.
In 2008/9/10 I could have easily bought a house on that middle job, now it wouldn’t be possible without 2 salaries
SaltyName8341@reddit
Lots of jobs available 🤣🤣 the job market at the moment is broken
Elster-@reddit
Compared to 2008. Yes there are lots of jobs available
SaltyName8341@reddit
ONS says 2.5 unemployed to each job available which is rising.
Vacancies and jobs in the UK - Office for National Statistics https://share.google/W3mMPBg74WWg6dUl2
Larnak1@reddit
Vacancies are almost double than in the aftermath of 2008 according to the data you linked
blissedandgone@reddit
I don’t know. We just got a pay rise at work, not exactly in line with inflation but ykno. Equally there’s just been a voluntary retirement scheme announced. All the news is bad, all the outcomes seem good
Itchy_Hunter_4388@reddit
Very different situation, there were hardly any jobs and for the years after. Prices were still acceptable though and with property tanking rent/mortgages were pretty good which was all okay if you kept your job. I had to move to London to move on with my career as the job market was completely stagnant.
Prestigious_Seal@reddit
I graduated in 2009.
There were very few jobs available (and they were highly competed for), and there was wage stagnation after that - which feels like it's basically still continuing (or worsening, in real terms) to this day.
BUT, I could rent a nice 2 bed flat with a bathroom and ensuite for £650pm, and pints cost £2.50.
I think real terms spending power is much worse.
Firstpoet@reddit
London- only 38% English origin which implies an immense seismic change completely unprecedented in the whole history of the UK. Population has grown from 7m to around 9m in the last 20 years.It was 9m in Victorian era but ( as now in places) this was families in one room in many areas and massive overcrowding. Housing crisis in London is result of not planning.
Construction industry at near capacity- and laptop types don't want in work in this area. Import workers? Need housing.
So London a hotbed of discontent- no plan, no sense of data- and it turns out the government is having a huge problem with data- eg immigration/ emigration figures until recently were based on polling a sample of people arriving or leaving airports. Ridiculous. The Civil Service data people just don't know.
So we have a budget that really just hopes there will be growth. They dont know. Stick a finger in the air and hope the wind is blowing the right way.
I predict a crisis in 2 to 3 years. We are at the mercy of events- no spare capacity- no gas storage; broke and lacking resilience.
Not sure we'll muddle through this time.
KatVanWall@reddit
I got married in 2008. I'd been in my job for 5 years then, and working full-time and living by myself for 6 years.
The only way it affected me was that my workplace started cutting numbers. I started looking for another job in 2009 because things didn't feel secure there anymore, and in spring 2010 I got another job. (I was working in admin for a nonprofit, so I was super low down the ladder and a nobody in career terms.)
I was renting, but I had fallen on my feet back in 2003 with some kind of contract where the rent didn't go up.
I did notice utility bills go up a bit, but I don't remember really being affected by it, even though my wages were comparatively low. (My husband didn't help with the bills or rent at all, so getting married didn't mitigate any of that.) However, my new job in 2010 was a £4k pay increase on my previous job, and after a couple of years in that job I got a change of role and an additional £5k pay rise, followed by another £1k a couple of years later.)
My then-husband and I bought our first house in 2014 and lived the life of Riley on mostly my income until our child was born in 2016. So my life was generally on the up throughout that period. I remember the worry of job insecurity, but that was all. My husband's income paid for our luxuries - travel overseas, hotel stays.
Since then everything went downhill for me on a personal level, so I was going into Covid divorced, self-employed and with a 3-year-old child. The cost of living crisis has really hammered me this time around - I've noticed the increase in food prices and utility prices and bloody everything prices! And of course I only get a 'pay rise' if I charge my clients more :-(
So it feels a lot worse to me now, but that could be more down to just my personal circumstances rather than the actual economy itself. I was relatively young and carefree before.
dwair@reddit
I'm basing this on memory but it feels much worse than 2008. It's as bad now as it was during Thatchers tenure, only there feels like the hope things are going to improve is missing. It's going to take a very, very long time to get over the Tories this time.
yorkshepherd@reddit
2008 wasn’t as bad for the “common man” than 89-92 was. Many more foreclosures on mortgages and the government removed the safety net which was to defer the capital and pay the interest
DameKumquat@reddit
If you had a variable rate mortgage in 2008, it was great - it pretty much halved, or rather, you could pay the same and pay off loads more of the balance before remortgaging. And starting from a pretty low base, too.
89-92 had rates doubling. My dad moved abroad to stop the house being repossessed.
The other difference is the 90s were then low mortgages and wages rising, as opposed to low mortgages and wages staying roughly the same from 2008-18.
thesockpuppetaccount@reddit
I was 15
Dad had to take on a job because the business slowed down
I was working and there was so much work. Like even for someone like me at 15 with next to no quals, if you wanted work you could get it. Pretty well paid as well, slightly above minimum wage.
90210fred@reddit
Ask an employee of, or a mortgage holder with, Northern Rock. It was shit for them, and for the mortgage holders, stayed shit.
lloydstenton@reddit
To be fair we didn’t really notice mortgage wise (we were with Northern Rock)
As civil servants, our pain came a couple of years later with all the austerity shenanigans with the public sector (admittedly I’ll still take a pay freeze over a 100% pay cut and no job - would have been nice to have some pay restoration since though instead of less than inflation increases “because it wouldn’t be fair”)
Bensoir@reddit
For me personally:
2008 I worked in construction and half way through training to be a QS. Got made redundant and it took me over 6 months to find a new job. Was early/mid 20’s but had to move back in with parents. Managed to get an entry level call centre job and had to work my way up.
2025, I have a steady job with no indication of losing it. I am financially much more secure but I’m also nearly 20 years on. Prices are going up all over so more choices have to be made but I’m not early career anymore so can stomach those increases without as significant an impact. However, being squeezed from both ends with less than inflation pay rises has meant the way to keep a similar standard of living is by promotions. If I’d told my younger self my salary with no kids I’d have thought I’d have a much better standard of living.
Ok_Cod5649@reddit
During the circa 10 years prior to 2008, the UK economy experienced an unsustainable short term economic boom, which could not have continued and cannot realistically be repeated now.
The best demonstration of this is the UK's household finances. Using figures from the Office of National Statistics, household debt to GDP ratio increased from 86.1% in Q1 1997 to a peak of 155.8% in Q3 2008. The UK population collectively took out debt, which provided a short term economic boom.
Since late 2008, UK households have overall paid off debt and the latest figures (Q2 2025) show a household debt to GDP ratio of 117.1%, back to what the position was in circa late 2002. This deleveraging has been painful, contributing to households feeling "squeezed" (as they are not only foregoing consumer debt, but paying off previously accumulated debt), but also the UK high street (people spending less, or diverting resources to debt reduction).
sniffing_dog@reddit
I don't recall it affecting me at all, in fact I have very little memory of it and I was 32 with a mortgage
Dartzap@reddit
I think it's was probably most noticeable in sectors that are govt adjacent. I was working in a mental health rehab service at the time, and when 2008 hit, we suddenly saw our day service reduced and then gone.
Support hours were cut for community clients, the standard four hours became three and then two.
Councils went from offering support packages to constant reviews to try and slash caseloads.
This hasn't changed in the nearly 18 years since.
SuchaPineapplehead@reddit
I was in my final year of uni, Graduate in 2009 and it was really hard to get a job after uni. Took me til early 2010. Actually a place I worked in 2007 had gone into administration and looking back I wonder if that was the beginning of it.
I got made redundant May 2024 and it took me til September 2025 to get back into the industry I have over a decade of experience in. The roles a step back and almost 20k less than I was on before but I’m grateful to have a full time job again so… I’d say it’s worse now tbh
Plus-Desk-737@reddit
It's difficult to compare. 2008 was an absolute panic but the signs were here in late 2007 when there were people queuing outside branches of Northern Rock to get their money out.
So while that same panic isn't there, we now have a combination of a possible private credit crisis that could take down the banking system, much bigger national debt in many countries and of course AI. Plus we've had very little economic growth in years.
I think at the moment it's not as bad as 2008 but I think it will develop into an even worse economic crisis.
StereotypicallBarbie@reddit
My children were 5 and 3 at that time.. moved into our property in 2006 and had bought it for a good price.
Only had one wage coming in at that time as my youngest won’t have been in school yet. I don’t remember it being particularly bad (not as bad as now) but we weren’t living large either! Remember doing half my monthly shop round the pound shops.
WinkyNurdo@reddit
I’m not sure they’re comparable. 2008 was a bomb going off. The current climate is more of a long, slow, stinky yet pervasive fart gradually invading the room.
Incidentally, and anecdotally,I was made redundant in 2008 as a direct result of one of the world’s biggest companies deciding to reign in their spending because their profits were suddenly not measured in the hundreds of millions. Today, and in the years since Covid, there’s been no danger of anything similar happening.
Sea-Still5427@reddit
I was working and didn't feel much impact. Think it was worse in the US, starting a bit earlier in 2007 with the subprime mortgage crisis. Their property market took years to recover.
For me, it felt easier than the early 80s, when there was high youth unemployment and a lot of cities were very run down pre the 'loadsamoney' era and gentrification. A few years later, the 1987 stock market crash led to inflation and 15% mortgage rates. Plenty of younger working people in their first flat that they'd bought with a friend were stuck in the negative equity trap and some were repossessed. Traumatising at the time.
GotAnyNirnroot@reddit
08 was bloody awful. My dad is a mortgage broker/advisor, so it was obviously particularly bad.
I don't think his income really recovered until the mid 2010s.
I went to Uni in 2011, and was skint the entire time. Worked at spoons in order to have any spending money.
And the graduate job market was still an absolute shit show in 2014/15.
It took about 6 months to finally get a graduate office job, the starting salary was 18k.
notouttolunch@reddit
2008 was a disaster. No economic plan, years of frivolous spending and poor budgets since around 1997.
GreenComfortable927@reddit
There was a fair few job losses. I still remember telling a fireman he had to actually miss a payment on his mortgage before I could help him. Poor sod was calling because he was panicking about his credit rating.
So lota of people missing payments and getting into a mess.
Also, loads of negative equity.
I also remember mortgage rates going up. I did a fixed for someone at 8% - historically still not the highest, but still.
Alarming-Yoghurt-615@reddit
Price of everything is just wild beyond words, it’s made me not far off vegetarian and eat loads of rice, eggs, small amounts of meats etc Piece of brisket in 2008 was the cheapest bottom of barrel cut ever, roughly you’d pay £5 for it then if that,,,same piece of meat now is £16!
Ridiculous House prices make me lol too, all whilst the bread and butter salt of earth folks like nurses/carers etc are not paid enough. I feel so damn sorry and bad for the younger ones, I’m 46 and would have zero issues paying more tax if it helped them out! …in this country we seem to know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Ambitious_Grape9908@reddit
I don't feel that 2025 is comparable to 2008 - maybe 2022, but things are better now (remember Liz Truss, exploding energy costs, skyrocketing mortgage costs, inflation meaning shops putting up prices three times a year...at least that was my experience and it feels like it's calmed down since then).
I do feel that we're in particularly negative news cycle and people can't see anything good happening around them.
I mean, the budget was pretty ok as far as budgets go. As an example, the media geared themselves up to make a big thing about tax rises, which didn't happen and then had to continue this narrative and focus in on the fact that tax brackets didn't change mean that sort of kind of technically while not really, tax is being increased.
Tax brackets haven't been adjusted since 2021 and it was barely mentioned each year, but this year it was reported like it was this huge tax hike like we've never seen before. For reference, if you're earning £40k today and get a 5% increase, the difference with the tax brackets being adjusted upwards by 4% for inflation, means less than £9 a month difference. But the news is SO NEGATIVE and around this.
Why didn't we see this in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024? Because we always seem to find something to complain about.
RTB897@reddit
The thing is that cost of living is partially down to the economy and partially down to where you are in life. In 2008 and 2009 we didn't have any money left over at the end of the month, everything was really expensive and we were always short of money for even the essentials. We had just bought a house, had a baby and then I was made redundant, it was a difficult time. We coped.
17 years later both myself and my wife are in well paid jobs, we live in a nice detached house have a couple of paid for cars on the drive and don't have to think about how long it is until payday. For us 2008/9 were far worse than now, but thats only because our situation has changed.
dbxp@reddit
It was a different sort of issue, it was worse on the business side as lots of financing was effected and the UK economy has never really recovered.
The CoL increases are more on the consumer side and are exacerbated due to the fallout from the financial crisis and Brexit removing the powers the government would normally have.
Full-Seaweed-5116@reddit
I came out of uni just after 2008 and things like job did go away. But that's missing the point in general. It's embarassing that the Uk has became stuck so much in this 'recovery' mode since. You've no politicians willing to bar a bit of rough to in the long run make it better. It's sad. The UK used to be a place people looked up to. Now it's, well I don't know. I've been to places in Eastern Europe where they didn't invest post EU membership and I can figure out that dispite nearly 50 years the parts of the UK look the same.
The NHS was made out of fear. Not to helpt people. It was fear following a harsh event. That fear should come about again. In the right ways. It will considering how the world is going now.
LiteratureFit8635@reddit
I was a mortgage broker in 2008 working in the City, it was absolute carnage and stagnation for the next 3-4 years.
Just my opinion of course - the situation, at least in London is nowhere close to post-GFC. The big difference is that there are a lot more 'sticky' non-EU immigrants around now (sticky in the sense that they will stay irrespective of the economy as they're mostly here to settle) in London, which increases competition for jobs across the spectrum.
Cheap_Interview_3795@reddit
I had a house on the market and worked for a High Street Bank. 2008 could have been catastrophic for me, but kept my job and held back selling for a few years.
But, for both 2008 and now in 2025, it doesn't actually feel bad. I work, I get paid, I buy stuff.
NumberCandy@reddit
I was in my teens during this, so take with a small pinch, but the actual cost of living was not awful during the period, but as you mentioned employment was harder to come by (both of my parents at the time flitted between short contracts) .
Food etc was still cheap and you could certainly make money go much further
MassiveHampton@reddit
Purchased my first house months before the arse fell out of everything in 2008, epic timing.
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