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Commenting on the latest labour market statistics published today (Wednesday) by the Office for National Statistics, TUC Head of Economics Nicola Smith said:

“After years of falling living standards, today’s real earnings growth suggests that we may finally be starting to make up some of the lost ground. But at this rate of progress it will still be at least another parliament before wages are even back to where they were before the crisis.

21 January 2015

Commenting on the latest labour market statistics published today (Wednesday) by the Office for National Statistics, TUC Head of Economics Nicola Smith said:

“After years of falling living standards, today’s real earnings growth suggests that we may finally be starting to make up some of the lost ground. But at this rate of progress it will still be at least another parliament before wages are even back to where they were before the crisis. Households are still far worse off today than they were five years ago.

“There are now concerning signs that young people are being left behind, with long-term youth unemployment failing to improve. Far more must be done to ensure that young people are protected from the damaging effects of long periods out of work.  

“With the IMF downgrading its UK growth forecast this week, it’s far from clear that this is a recovery built to last. We need stronger, sustained growth in wages and a far better balanced recovery to ensure that living standards are protected in the years ahead.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- The estimate for the timing of earnings recovery is derived by projecting forwards an index for real earnings at the monthly rate of growth implied by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) and (single month) average weekly earnings (AWE) figure for regular pay. With November CPI at 1.0 per cent and AWE at 1.7 per cent, the implied monthly rate is (1.7-1.0) / 12, i.e. 0.06 per cent. The sharp fall of CPI inflation into December suggests a wider margin around any such estimate.

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Follow the TUC on Twitter: @tucnews

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