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Half of British workers had a real-terms pay cut in the year to autumn 2020, despite official figures showing the fastest earnings growth in almost two decades, research by the Resolution Foundation suggests. The thinktank said official figures on average weekly earnings had been “hugely disrupted” by the large number of workers furloughed, and that …

Consumers are facing price rises and shortages of products from TVs and mobile phones to cars and games consoles as a global shortage in semiconductors grows. The shortage in chips, the “brain” within every electronic device in the world, has been steadily worsening since last year. Initially the problem was only a temporary delay in …

Bike retailers and manufacturers are struggling to keep up with demand as the cycling boom kicked off by the pandemic rolls into 2021, with customers falling on available stock “like piranhas”, according to one big retailer. UK bicycle sellers said stock was being snapped up within days of arriving at ports even before the market …

Britain’s economic recovery from Covid-19 is at threat from a looming digital skills crisis caused by a sharp fall in the number of young people taking IT courses, a report has said. A study by the Learning and Work Institute found less than half of UK employers believed new entrants to the workforce were arriving …

More mortgage deals are starting to emerge for homebuyers who can only manage a small deposit – but those looking to buy a flat are increasingly finding themselves excluded. On Wednesday, Yorkshire building society’s Accord Mortgages arm became the first lender to return to the 95% loan-to-value (LTV) mainstream mortgage market. But this five-year fixed-rate …