Workers are on average £1,600 worse off each year than three years ago because the "dire" state of the economy has pushed down wages, according to a new study which tracks wage and inflation data between 2009 and 2012, as well as forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility from 2012 onwards.
Incomes have fallen sharply in real terms over the past three years as wages have failed to keep up with the rising cost of living.
TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, said: "The dire state of the economy has pushed down wages. Workers today are on average nearly £1,600 poorer than they were three years ago. Even when wages start to pick up again, it will take years to undo the damage wreaked by austerity and high inflation. Unless things change, the UK's 12-year wage dive will continue until 2021 and cost the average worker around £8,500... A return to business as usual will simply postpone the next living standards crisis."
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