Commenting on the latest labour market statistics published today (Wednesday) by the Office for National Statistics, which show improvements to employment rates but wage growth so slow that it would take 12 years to recover to pre-recession real earnings, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:
“It’s good to see an increase in real wages after so many years of falling living standards, but at today’s rate of wage growth it would take another twelve years for people’s pay to be worth what it was before the recession. And with the recovery looking as if it is already running out of steam, we cannot even be confident of that.
“Huge concerns remain about the quality of many of the jobs being created, and as the Chancellor has found out to his cost many people are not earning enough to pay much tax, if any.”
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- The estimate for the rate of earnings recovery is derived by projecting forwards an index for real earnings at the monthly rate of growth implied by the September Consumer Price Index (CPI) and (single month) average weekly earnings (AWE) figures. With CPI at 1.2 per cent and AWE at 1.8 per cent, the implied monthly rate is (1.8-1.2) / 12, i.e. 0.05 per cent.
- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk
- Follow the TUC on Twitter: @tucnews
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