BoE Claims UK Real Wages Are Approaching a 'Turning Point'

The cost of living could begin to ease as the UK economy is approaching a "turning point" where real wages are catching up with the cost of goods.

Bank of England (BoE) official Professor David Miles, who has sat on the central bank's interest rate setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) since 2009, told BBC Breakfast that real incomes have steadily declined year after year.

But CPI inflation (1.9%) has now come closer to yearly total pay growth (1.1%), marking a shift in wage settlements.

Miles explained he expects wage growth to eventually outstrip inflation as the country's economic recovery continues.

"It has been an extraordinary period and an extremely painful period for five years where incomes have been falling," he said.

However, the BoE official warned that the UK may not get back to its pre-recession interest rates for a long time to come

Miles also ruled out a sudden increase in interest rates, which are currently at historic lows of 0.5%.

"When interest rates do go up, it's more likely than not to be a very gradual series of increases," Miles explained.

Mark Carney, the BoE's governor, had previously said a fall of the UK's unemployment rate to 7% would trigger the bank to consider a rate rise.

But the central bank most recently revealed that it will analyse income and wages before deciding to hike rates.

The comments come after Martin Weale, another member of the MPC, told Sky News that the gradual increase is likely to happen in the first half of 2015.

"I think it is very helpful if we try and explain that the most likely path for interest rates is that the first rise will come perhaps in the spring of next year and then the path is likely to be relatively gradual," Weale said.