Millions of workers’ real-terms pay has been cut as the cost of living crisis worsens, figures show.
The average employee is £260 a year poorer because salary rises in three months to November lagged behind inflation of 5.1%.
Office for National Statistics data showed wages in that time rose by 3.8%, 4.2% with bonuses.
Inflation in December may have hit 5.2% and economists fear it could soar to 7% by spring, a 30-year high. The wage squeeze comes on top of soaring energy bills and looming tax rises.
Oil prices hit a seven-year high today, which may mean paying more for petrol and energy. But the ONS said the unemployment rate fell to where it was pre-Covid, from 4.2% to 4.1%. And job vacancies were at an all-time high.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak ignored the real wage cut and said the figures were “proof that the jobs market is thriving”.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “While it’s good to see employment continuing to rise, on pay it’s the same story of a squeeze on workers.
“Working people deserve a decent standard of living and a wage they can raise a family on.
“But instead, following the worse pay squeeze for two centuries, real pay is falling, and they now face a cost-of-living crisis.”
