New research has found that workers are £11,000 a year worse off now. The Resolution Foundation says it comes after 15 years of "wage stagnation".
The figures, which have been shared with BBC Panorama, suggest that had wages continued to grow at a pace seen before the 2008 financial crash, workers would earn £11k more. The think tank says this takes into account the rising cost of living.
Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, told the BBC the wage stagnation of the past 15 years is “almost completely unprecedented”. He said: “Nobody who’s alive and working in the British economy today has ever seen anything like this. This is definitely not what normal looks like. This is what failure looks like.”
The think tank also found typical UK household incomes have fallen further behind those in Germany: in 2008, the gap was more than £500 a year, now it is £4,000. A Treasury spokesman told the broadcaster the Government was increasing incentives for investment and signalled low unemployment – as well as its plan to increase growth – as signs the country was on the right track.
