Real wages fell by nearly £2,500 in the North West since 2010, says TUC

Average full-time pay in the North West fell by £2,461 in real terms since 2010, according to new analysis published by the TUC today (Monday) to mark the beginning of Fair Pay Fortnight which runs from the 16 February to March 1.

In the last year, average pay has fallen by over £500. The average weekly loss to workers pay packets since 2010 is over £45 a week.

The TUC says that UK workers have endured the longest real wage squeeze since records began in the 1850s and that even with inflation falling sharply in recent months at current rates of progress it will still take years for wages to recover to their pre-recession levels.

While average pay for workers in the North West fell by 8.9 per cent in real terms between 2010 and 2014, pay for FTSE 100 bosses shot up by 26 per cent over the same period, says the TUC.

FTSE 100 chief executives saw their pay increase, on average, by £700,000 in real terms between 2010 and 2014.

The average wage for a FTSE 100 CEO in 2014 was £3,334,000 – 132 times the average annual wage in the North West.

The TUC estimates that it took a FTSE 100 CEO just two working days, on average, to earn what most full-time workers in the region earn in a year.

The TUC is organising Fair Pay Fortnight to raise awareness about pay inequality and to campaign for a higher minimum wage, greater extension of the living wage and higher pay settlements in the public and private sector.

A number of events and activities have been planned across the North West.

These include street stalls to talk to the public across the region and highlight the impact of low pay on local areas. We will be in Leyland and Blackpool to make the case for the Living Wage in these areas and talking to people in Manchester about the impact of low pay on younger workers.

On top of this we will be lobbying MP’s to show their support and asking employers, including football clubs and rugby league clubs, to do more including paying staff a Living Wage.

TUC North West Regional Secretary Lynn Collins said: “Despite some signs of growth returning, 2014 was another miserable year for living standards in the North West with real wages falling by over £500 in real terms and an overall loss of £2,500 since 2010. North West workers are still paying the price for a recession that they didn’t cause.

“Even though inflation has fallen sharply in recent months, it is still going to take years for North West workers earnings to recover to their pre-recession levels.

“It is different story though for those at the top. Senior City executives have seen a huge boost in their fortunes since the election as their wages have skyrocketed. That just is not fair and North West workers deserve better and deserve a pay rise.

“This is why we are organising Fair Pay Fortnight, to raise awareness about pay inequality and to call for a sustainable recovery in which everybody shares.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:
Changes in the median annual real earnings of full-time employees 2010-2014
 Change Since 2010 (£) Change Since 2010 (per cent) Change Since 2013 (£) Change since 2013 (per cent)
Region/nation    
United Kingdom -2,509 -8.4 -487 -1.8
North East -1,663 -6.3 164 +0.7
North West -2,461 -8.9 -506 -2.0
Yorkshire and The Humber -2,380 -8.7 -554 -2.2
East Midlands -2,652 -9.6 -510 -2.0
West Midlands -2,430 -8.9 -1,037 -4.0
East -2,297 -7.9 -343 -1.3
London -3,940 -10.1 -978 -2.7
South East -2,935 -9.3 -390 -1.3
South West -2,085 -7.5 -298 -1.2
Wales -2,217 -8.3 -318 -1.3
Scotland -1,882 -6.5 -102 -0.4
Northern Ireland -1,681 -6.5 -527 -2.1
Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, RPI adjusted. All real values are reported are in April 2014 prices, using April RPI: All Items Index values

Changes in FTSE 100 CEOs real earnings 2010-2014
 Change Since 2010 (£) Change since 2010 (per cent)
FTSE 100 Chief Executives +£696,236 +26.3
Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, RPI adjusted. All real values are reported are in April 2014 prices, using April RPI: All Items Index values

FTSE 100 CE0 pay, compared to median earnings
North West median wage in 2014 £25,229
How many more times the regional median wage FTSE 100 earned in 20141 132
Hours it took CEO to earn median wage in region2 15
Working days it took CEO to earn median wage in region3 2.0

1This value is FTSE 100 median annual wage divided by regional full time median annual wage and rounded to the nearest whole number.
2This value assumes a standard working week of 37.5 hours per week for 52 weeks per year. Not taking any leave into account, this comes to 1950 standard working hours per year. The FTSE 100 median hourly wage was therefore estimated at £1,709.74, which is the FTSE 100 median annual wage divided by 1950.  Finally, each regional full time median annual wage was then divided by this hourly rate and rounded to the nearest hour.
3This value took the number of hours it would take a FTSE 100 CEO to earn the full-time median annual wage divided by a standard 7.5 hour work day and was rounded to the nearest tenth of a day.
- Fair Pay Fortnight will run between Monday 16 February and Sunday 1 March.
- The Fortnight is part of the TUC’s Britain Needs a Pay Rise campaign and will feature a series of events across England and Wales to raise awareness about low pay, pay inequality and falling living standards. For more information please visit www.fairpayfortnight.org
- For details of events, please contact us on the below details.
- We will be sending out a further release on Living Wage by constituency shortly
- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk
- Follow the TUC on Twitter: @tucnews

Contacts:
Media enquiries:
Jay McKenna  M: 07788 414578     E: jmckenna@tuc.org.uk
Lynn Collins   M: 07786 190541 E: lcollins@tuc.org.uk