Cardiff's economy is booming but the city lags behind on average earnings, new research suggests.
According to Legal & General’s Rebuilding Britain Index (RBI), Cardiff is outperforming both the Welsh, UK and London average scores on GDP per capita.
However, there is a lack of high wage employment which is leaving many households in the city struggling to cope with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
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The RBI, which measures the UK’s progress in levelling up on a quarterly basis, tracks social and economic progress across 52 measures, including jobs & economic prosperity, energy, transport and digital.
Data from the index reported that Cardiff achieved an overall UK average RBI score of 65/100.
The Welsh capital outperformed the UK average on jobs and economic prosperity at 67/100 compared to 63/100 nationally and further ahead of the Wales average (57/100).
It also gained an above average score for Digital Access at 80/100 compared to 73/100 nationally.
Yet, Cardiff significantly underperformed on the average earnings measure, lagging behind the UK and London on average earnings but outperforming Wales as a whole.
The index reported that the cost of living crisis will lead to 17% of Cardiff households feeling unable to cope in the face of any further energy price increases.
A further 75% are being forced to make additional cutbacks on their household budgeting.
While half of Cardiff households are concerned about being able to keep up with rent or mortgage payments over the next 12-months.
In addition, half are also not confident in being able to maintain their current lifestyle over the next 12-months.
As such, households in the region are expecting to cut back on their spending on leisure activities, such as cinema visits (54%), family holidays (50%) and birthdays and Christmas (46%).
The index highlights the impact of the cost-of-living crisis which is being felt more severely in some parts of the UK than others, threatening to widen the existing demographic and geographic inequalities that the Government's levelling-up agenda was designed to address.
L&G chief executive Sir Nigel Wilson is calling on the new government to work closely with public and private sector partners around the UK to address the root of regional inequalities.
Mr Wilson said: “There are clearly many households in need of immediate financial support, and we should absolutely welcome the financial packages that have been put in place to lessen the immediate impact for those most in need.
“Whilst immediate financial support for households is important, longer-term strategic action to tackle the root cause of inequalities needs to remain a key focus. Private capital has a crucial role to play in the UK’s levelling-up journey.
“L&G have already made a significant commitment in Cardiff, but it will take sustained efforts and further investment from all public and private partners to ensure we have the impact that we are striving for. More need to be done to attract this investment, including in energy efficient homes, high wage employment and green energy solutions.”
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