Inflation slashes real wages by 3% in UK as costs bite

Workers in the United Kingdom have suffered the biggest slump in real pay in almost half a century, official statistics have showed.

As workers across the country prepare for strike action, it was revealed that real wages, which show the value of pay adjusted for inflation and are a guide to how living standards have changed, plunged by 3 percent over the course of 2022.

The study by the Trades Union Congress, or TUC, which represents the majority of unions in England and Wales, said it is the biggest drop since 1977.

The research showed working people have lost nearly 80 pounds ($98) a month this year as a result of their pay not keeping pace with inflation, and that key workers in the public sector have seen their pay fall by 180 pounds a month in real terms.

Trade Union Congress general secretary, Frances O'Grady, said workers were "being pushed to breaking point by years of wage stagnation "and that working people have been "brutally exposed" as the cost of living has soared this year.

The country is facing huge disruption from worker walkouts in the coming days and weeks. The UK is bracing for strikes by postal workers, train and bus drivers, border force agency staff, driving instructors, National Health Service workers, teachers and more.

Unions last week wrote to Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt seeking an end to the Conservative government's refusal to hold discussions on public sector pay.

On the probability of ongoing industrial action this winter, O'Grady said "the government only have themselves to blame", adding that "ministers seem more interested in escalating disputes than resolving them".

Stephen Phipson, chief executive at Make UK, said that the UK risks "sleepwalking into an acceptance that little or no growth is the norm".

"Government needs to work with industry as a matter of urgency to deliver a long-term industrial strategy that has growth at national and regional levels at its heart," he said.

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