Heaven knows I’m miserable now

The Misery Index Image by dhammza /off via flickr

What do you get if you cross inflation and unemployment?

Misery!!

No, I didn’t find it particularly funny either, but there is a serious point behind this.... the Misery Index really does exist and it does use the factors above adding the rate of inflation to the percentage of the population without a job.

In other words: inflation + unemployment = misery.

And the latest version of the index says we’ve just got more miserable than at any time since 1994.

The latest data from the Office for National Statistics tells us unemployment stands at 7.9%, a near fifteen year high and CPI Inflation has hit 4.4% (again).

So we’re miserable, fact. But is there hope around the corner?

Well no, not on the face of it: two of the biggest staples which drive the inflation figure have been the subject of significant focus, debate and protest. We know all about the volatility in business energy prices but we now see rail fares are set to grow at twice the rate of inflation.

As a nation our media understandably focuses on the consumer angle but with pay rises at around 2%, prices rising and employment increasingly uncertain there is no way businesses can expect to ride this latest sentiment through with no impact.

On a more direct basis, the cost increases of the commodities with which we run our businesses and the cost implications for travelling the UK to drum up custom was bad enough when petrol has been nudging 145p a litre but now the only viable alternative in rail travel is going to similarly hurt productivity.

All very gloomy indeed, but we didn’t survive this far by giving in and neither did you.

It’s pretty obvious that uSwitch for Business will help you save money on business energy, business comms and business insurance but given the latest news and how we depend on the rail network to drive our business forward we’re focusing on finding a travel solution for our customers..

it’s in the planning stages, and is hyper-political (not us but the train companies, ATOC, the regulator... I could go on) and as a result it is by no means certain to be allowed but we’re going to try...

Keep in touch with us to find out more and in the meantime sort those costs we have a solution for today and help keep the business fight back going

Heaven knows I’m a little bit more positive now.