The average worker in the UK has seen £200 a week disappear from their bank account – according to the Trades Union Congress. Pay packets are smaller than they were in 2008 in most local authority areas in the UK, according to analysis by TUC.
It found real terms average pay, which factors in inflation, is less than it was in 2008, in nearly two-thirds of local areas, towns and cities. The union body estimates that the average UK worker would be £10,400 a year better off if real wages had grown at their pre-crisis trend.
That is the equivalent of £200 a week. “This is a damning indictment of the Conservatives’ economic record,” said the TUC’s general secretary, Paul Nowak. “This is the same government that’s given us the most dramatic fall in living standards on record. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can create a new era of decent pay growth again where families’ living standards rise rather than falling backwards,” he added.
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“The Tories’ failure to grow the economy – and their scorched-earth austerity policies – has decimated family budgets,” said Nowak. “Just imagine how much better off people would be if they had an extra £10,400 in their pay packets each year – and how much more prosperous the country would be.”
A spokesperson for the Treasury said: “A global surge in inflation caused by Putin’s war in Ukraine has hit the value of wages right across the world. Despite these challenging international factors, since 2010, this government has made huge strides in ending low pay, with jumps in the value of the National Living Wage meaning the number of people in jobs classified as ‘low paid’ has halved. Additionally as part of our determination to end low pay, this month we increased the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over, putting more money in the pockets of almost 3 million workers.
“Through supporting the Bank of England and sticking to our plan, inflation is now down to 3.2% and real wages are growing. Additionally we’ve been able to cut National Insurance by a third – worth £900 a year to the average worker.”
