Past Recessions - what were your experiences?

kennyboy66_2

bristol_pilot wrote: »

There was no national minimum wage, but there was a minimum wage for shop workers and some other trades IIRC.

Quite right.

There were about 25 "wage councils" that covered certain jobs including retail.
They were abolished in 1993

These included;

Fur Wages Council.
Hairdressing Undertakings Wages Council.
Hat, Cap and Millinery Wages Council.
Lace Finishing Wages Council.
Laundry Wages Council.
Linen and Cotton Handkerchief and Household Goods Wages Council.
Ostrich and Fancy Feather and Artificial Flower Wages Council.
Perambulator and Invalid Carriage Wages Council.
Retail Bespoke Tailoring Wages Council.
Retail Food and Allied Trades Wages Council.
Toy Manufacturing Wages Council

As you can imagine I doubt if there would be much call for most of these wage councils these days.

My feeling is that nothing could be worse than the 1980-81 recession. Although there was a lot of problems in the 70's - the pain seemed evenly spread and the scourge of mass unemployment had not really arrived.

The sick irony of the Saatchi advert "Labour isn't working" as unemployment reached 1 million in 1979 became apparent a mere 2 years later as unemployment soared thanks to disasterous Tory economic policies. The damage had been done both regionally and to whole swathes of manufacturing capacity by the time these policies were reversed in 1982/3.
That short period is one of the 3 main reasons why the UK manufactures so little compared with Germany, France & Italy (1970's unions and weak management being the other 2 reasons).

Davesnave

wymondham wrote: »

More predictions this will be a bad one:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/recession/3919026/UK-Recession-will-be-worst-since-1947.html

any of our older readers recall this one at all ???

Just missed it, but 'normal' conditions from, say, the early fifties, would probably be regarded as abject poverty by people who only know post-70s Britain.

credit_crunch_victim

the wife and i bought our first house in about 1990-91 after renting for a couple of years
within 9 months the mortgage had trebled and we lost the house we were young and nieve looking back
we got hit with a bill 6 years later for just over 30k the house lost 20k in value in a year plus the acumilated interest
we bought for 60k and they sold it for 40k
we since paid off the debt and bought our next home and have been here for 17 years
it taught us a lot about money and what to expect this time around

mewbie_2

credit_crunch_victim wrote: »

stuff

Well done to you, and it goes to show that there is often a way back from financial difficulty.

tonygee_3

I was 24 in 1987 when that recession started,I was completely oblivious to it.However the real effects took place later,I was made redundant in '92 and I wanted to travel but it took till '95 before I sold my house.
Because I am older and more financially aware this recession is hitting home,I know eventually the good times will return but judging by previous experience the worst is yet to come.This recent property boom was twice as long as the previous one so I expect this recession to last 10 years

kennyboy66_2

Davesnave wrote: »

Just missed it, but 'normal' conditions from, say, the early fifties, would probably be regarded as abject poverty by people who only know post-70s Britain.

I'm sure they would. However to get back to 'normal' conditions of the 1950's the economy would have to shrink by about 70%.

Not even Dopester predicts that.

This surely will be most hyped recession of all time.

The worst thing about recessions usually is that the pain is concentrated on a relatively small proportion of the population (less than 20%).
People who are made unemployed and have high debts are often brutally exposed.

There will be plenty who sail through the recession with the only 'hardship' being that a weekend in Madrid, a weeks Skiing or a fortnight in France looks a bit expensive.

space_rider

Oh gosh pastures new. I too remember that nasty coffee. I also remember walking along the streets without street lights and also having to queue for bread. I can`t remember not having money to buy things more that you couldn`t buy things. My parents jobs weren`t affected by the recession.

Of the late 80`s recession, I do remember the high mortgage rate. I had my 2nd child then and had to go back to work when she was 3 months old. I was in a very secure job and my husband worked for the council dealing with maintenance so he was never short of work. We were able to keep up with our payments as we didn`t have any other debt.

Now this one, I am now single but thankfully I stopped excess spending almost a year ago when the first rumblings of a recession began and my mortgage is my only debt. Unfortunately my what I always thought of as a secure job is a bit precarious at the moment. At least interest rates are really low which is a good thing and I am saving the difference between what I am paying and the SVR. I don`t need to sell my house so the falling house prices shouldn`t affect me for now. I have also just started a 5 year mortgage product so can forget about remortgaging.

bo_drinker

They say 3 of the first things to be turned off will be Internet, Sky tv and mobile phone operators. We may even go back to 3 tv channels ??

mewbie_2

kennyboy66 wrote: »

There will be plenty who sail through the recession with the only 'hardship' being that a weekend in Madrid, a weeks Skiing or a fortnight in France looks a bit expensive.

Oh but the empathy, wailing and gnashing of teeth - the effort of expending sympathy on those less fortunate - it really takes it out of you. I expect my butler's fed up with me banging on about it. He doesn't dare show it though.
pip! pip!

Lotus-eater

bo_drinker wrote: »

They say 3 of the first things to be turned off will be Internet, Sky tv and mobile phone operators. We may even go back to 3 tv channels ??

Who's, they?

I won't hold my breath, alot of the population today, seems to think these things are needed for living. While I agree that without the internet modern life would be difficult, if not very different, the other two aren't really needed.

3 tv channels? not in my lifetime