Britain’s reputation as a rich country does not settle whether its households enjoy rising living standards. Research described by The London Economic points to prolonged weakness in real earnings and sharp regional disparities, raising a more specific question: whose prosperity does the national label describe? The publication reports findings from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, or NIESR, that parts of Birmingham and north-east England were worse off than the poorest regions of Slovenia and Lithuania. The comparison challenges assumptions about where prosperity is concentrated in Europe. However, the account does not provide enough methodological detail to assess precisely how those regional comparisons were constructed. The earnings figures offer a clearer explanation of the concern. According to the report, average real earnings had increased by 6.6 per cent since 2007, compared with almost 20 per cent during the seven years from 2000 to 2007. Real earnings account for inflation, making the distinction between a larger payslip and greater purchasing power central to the argument. NIESR also estimated that a typical British worker would be £4,000 a year better off if UK productivity growth and wages had matched those in the United States. This is a comparison with an alternative economic trajectory, rather than a measured loss from an individual worker’s pay packet. The institute’s economist Max Mosley attributed the deterioration to weak productivity growth, near-stagnant real wages and welfare cuts. Deputy director Adrian Pabst argued that economic growth should translate into higher living standards throughout the country. The institute called for public investment that could encourage business investment, productivity improvements and sustained real wage growth. The Treasury response quoted in the article emphasised its aim of increasing household incomes. It pointed to interest-rate cuts, an increase in the National Living Wage, rising real wages and pension protections. These were the government’s claims at the time of the report, rather than independent evidence that the disparities identified by NIESR had been resolved. The findings do not establish that every ordinary household became poorer, nor do they provide a complete assessment of national wealth, household assets or public service outcomes. They do support a narrower conclusion: weak growth in purchasing power and uneven regional outcomes can make a country’s reputation for prosperity a poor guide to everyday experience. Assessing whether Britain is becoming richer therefore requires asking how much reaches households, where they live and what their incomes can buy.