TUC says 2022 has been worst year for real pay growth for almost 50 years

A study suggests 2022 has been the worst year for real wage growth for nearly half a century.

The TUC said after the cost of living is been taken into account, wages have fallen by 3%, the biggest drop since 1977 and the second worst on record since 1945.

Workers have lost £76 a month on average this year as a result of their pay not keeping pace with inflation, with those in the public sector losing £180, said the union organisation.

The study indicates nurses’ real pay fell by £1,800 over the last year, paramedics’ by £2,400 and midwives’ by £2,400.

The cuts come after a decade of pay “suppression” in the public sector, said the TUC, which estimates nurses are earning £5,000 a year less in real terms than they were in 2010, rising to over £6,000 for midwives and paramedics.

Workers have been “brutally exposed” as the cost of living has soared this year, the TUC said, adding that the current wave of industrial action is the result of workers “being pushed to breaking point” by years of pay austerity.

The union body said it is “nonsense” to claim raising wages would lead to higher inflation, maintaining that any serious plan for improving growth must involve putting more money back into workers’ pockets.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “People should be able to look forward to Christmas without having to worry about how they’ll pay for it, but family budgets have been shredded by soaring bills and more than a decade of pay being held down.

“The Conservatives have presided over the longest real wage squeeze in over 200 years. That is a badge of shame.

“The Tories’ failure to get pay rising has left millions of households brutally exposed to the cost-of-living emergency.

“It’s time to reward work – not wealth. We cannot be a country where NHS and teaching staff have to use food banks while City bankers are given unlimited bonuses.”

Published: 12/12/2022 by Radio NewsHub