Introduction:
The following report will examine the extent to which increased prosperity in the UK has been accompanied by an increase in happiness and the way that the economic growth in the UK is an intricate part of our everyday lives.
Chapter 1
The economy plays a major part of the increased success in the UK, many different factors would be affected if our economy wasn’t booming. As it has been for many years it’s a vicious cycle that needs to keep turning in order for us to survive. Without the continued success of our economy many factors would be affected, such as;
Households
Wealth
Individuals
The above factors may not always change for the “happier” reasons. Just because people are more wealthier doesn’t mean that they are happier. After the BBC did a survey back in 2006 (BBC, Online, 2006) the proportion of people saying they were “very happy” had fallen from 52% in 1957 to 32% in 2005. ( Exploring Social Lives, page 14 )
Our government also play a big part in our economy by collecting various taxes on different products and uses these to pay for goods and services such as health care and education.
Continued Prosperity:
The average median annual salary for full time employees at the end of the tax year in 2013 was £27,000. ( www.ons.gov.uk ). This has increased by 2.1% from the previous year.
Above you can see an increase in the annual wages from 1993-2013. (www.ons.gov.uk) .
With the increase in our annual pay there is also an increase in our life spans. People are living for longer, could this be down
References:
Exploring Social Lives, Chapter 1, Introduction, Simon Bromley, 2009.