Britain’s total wage bill was £52 billion or 7.5 percent smaller last year than before the credit crunch began in 2007, the Trades Union Congress said Tuesday.
In a new campaign, “Britain Needs A Pay Rise”, the TUC added that pay had sunk 10 percent in the worst-hit area, the northwest of England.
“Far too many people earn too little to get by. Across the public sector and in much of the private sector, pay is frozen or rising far more slowly than inflation,” it said.
“Average earnings today are no higher than they were in 2000 and it is set to take until 2017 for pay to return to its pre-crash level.”
The problem began for many people even before the recession, the TUC added. Allowing for inflation, the wages of ordinary full-time workers barely grew between 2003 and 2008 and were negative for the lowest earners, despite relatively healthy economic growth in those years, according to the study.
Boardroom pay has continued to rise above inflation whilst the downward pressure on wages for lower and middle earners continues, it added.
The average chief executive now earns 145 times more than the average wage, the TUC reported..
Over the 2007-2012 period, the areas worst affected along with the northwest of England were the southwest, West Midlands and Scotland.
A modest increase in employment has failed to offset the sharp cut in wages in recent years, the TUC study discovered.
“Britain’s shrinking wages are hitting people’s living standards, holding back businesses and damaging our growth prospects. Britain desperately needs a pay rise,” TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said.
The TUC wants the government to “name and shame” companies which fail to pay the national minimum wage and it urges a crackdown on executive pay.
UK's wage bill down 7.5% over five years: TUC
