Bank slashes growth forecast and warns over 'slow' recovery "We face the rather unappealing combination of a subdued recovery with inflation remaining above target for a while," he added. Weak global growth ... for a country like the UK attempting to rebalance her economy ... poses real challenges. It may be unreasonable to expect anything other than a slow and protracted recovery. The squeeze on family finances was underlined by figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Average pay, stripping out bonuses, grew by just 1.9pc year-on-year - well behind inflation at 2.7pc. Pay restraint has allowed companies to keep hiring, Scott Corfe at the Centre for Business and Economic Research said, but for individuals it has meant "living standards decline in real terms." The jobless total dropped by 49,000 between July and September to 2.51m, with Britain's unemployment rate now at 7.8pc. At the same time, the number of people in work increased by 100,000 to just under 30m, the ONS said. Analysis by the Bank showed that almost half the 1m private sector jobs created since June 2010 have been part-time, and that both full and part-time staff are working half an hour more per week despite taking a real-terms pay cut. Economists said the Bank's forecasts hinted at the end of quantitative easing (QE) barring a new crisis. Although the Governor insisted policymakers had "not lost faith" in the programme, he conceded there were "limits to the ability of domestic policy to stimulate private sector demand" as the economy adjusts to a new model in the face of global headwinds. The Governor also dismissed the furore over the Treasury's decision to seize from the Bank £35bn of surplus cash generated by the QE programme as "a lot of fuss about nothing."