The Wages Squeeze

The UK's real wage squeeze will be the worst in modern history and the slowest for 200 years, according to the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

 wages have lagged behind inflation since 2008 and are worth £24 less in real terms than in 2008. It says they won't recover until 2025, by which time, it says, workers will have lost £18,500.

The TUC compared the current wages squeeze with every major earnings crisis over the past 200 years. It says this will be the biggest relative real wage loss since Lord Nelson's day and that even during the Great Depression era and the revival from the Second World War real wages recovered more quickly, in 10 years and seven years respectively.

TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady will tell people, "This means families are struggling to get by. Millions of kids are growing up in poverty despite having parents in work. Mums and dads are skipping meals and turning to dodgy lenders to make ends meet."