Pay packets worth less than in 2008 in large parts of the UK – TUC
The average worker would be £200 a week better off if wages had grown at levels seen before the 2008 global financial crisis, research suggests.
A study by the TUC found that pay packets are worth less than in 2008 in almost two-thirds of the UK.
The analysis of official statistics showed that 16 years on from the financial crisis, wages will be lower in real terms in 212 out of 340 local authority areas this year.
The union body described the findings as a “damning indictment” of the Conservatives’ economic record, adding that millions of UK workers are enduring the longest pay squeeze in more than 200 years.
The TUC estimated that the average UK worker would be £10,400 a year better off if real wages had grown at their pre-crisis trend – the equivalent of £200 a week.
‘Damning indictment’
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Hard work should pay for everyone, but people are still worse off than in 2008 across the vast majority of Britain, and in every corner of the UK pay growth is way below historic trends.
“This is a damning indictment of the Conservatives’ economic record. This is the same Government that’s given us the most dramatic fall in living standards on record.
“The Tories’ failure to grow the economy, and their scorched-earth austerity policies, has decimated family budgets. 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.
“We can create a new era of decent pay growth again where families’ living standards rise rather than falling backwards.
“That means a proper plan to get the economy growing again by investing in UK industry, and a New Deal so that working people get a fair share of the wealth they create.”
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
£10,400 a year better off? Don’t be absurd, think about the profits! How can a modest CEO or shareholder possibly hope to receive an obscene salary/dividend if one has to concentrate on such trifling matters as fair pay for employees?! Good lord, the ramifications are enough to keep one awake at nights!
Excellent analysis that goes to the heart of the problem.
Tories always have a dreadful record in power but people keep voting for them. This time round they have destroyed the UK infrastructure from the NHS to law and order to social benefits to housing. They have paid out £trillions in Quantative easing, for example, to keep the banksters in luxury while letting ordinary people go to the wall. Unbelievable that millions of children are going hungry in the UK in 2024, hungry in the fifth richest country in the world. Takes a particular type of evil callousness to achieve that.
Remember that the propping up of bankster lifestyles started with the Brown/Darling regime which continued with Cameron/Osborne. British ruling elites regardless of party are happy to look after their own while stripping out services and the relatively meagre capital and incomes of the bulk of the population. Yet there is no hint of any kind of radical response to 16 years of redistribution.