See, growing up in the heart of the West Midlands, in the late 70s four car council houses were not uncommon at all, mum dad and two kids. I had mates who worked down the pit whose bank managers were imploring them to buy a house when they were 21, a typical 2 up 2 down was about 4-5 grand back then. Many skilled workers lived in the "posh" parts of town as they often earned twice as much as your typical office manager type position in the civil service or council. To make the same money as a bog standard office clerk at somewhere like Peugeot in the early 80s , you would need to be making over 600 quid a week today.
I have several mates coming towards retirement who have been earning less money this lass decade than they were in the early 80s, ie 200-250 quid a week rather than the 250-350 quid a week they were making as skilled workers in the early 80s.
I wonder how many unskilled kids of 18 are making into today's money, 350-400 quid a week simply sweeping floors in a factory? My ex's father was the scaffolding gang leader her mum was a district nurse, she grew up in a four bedroomed house in the nice area of town and had a pony when she was 13.
Many things are far far cheaper relatively these days. Take the Pet Shop Boys, the kit they owned before they even had a record deal of any sort, was the equivalent value of a decent house in many parts of London back then. On the other hand, when i first moved to London it was a few p cheaper to buy a curry and rice from an Indian restaurant than it was to buy half a dozen fish fingers and a can of beans from a shop.
The one thing that really did hit me moving to London as a student in the late 70s was. The abject level of pay that those in "industry" in London were making. When looking for temp jobs during the summer holidays, the hourly rates were often less than half and some times one third that of the same job in the West Midlands.
