Workers will have to wait another nine years to get back to the level of income they enjoyed in 2009. During this time they will have lost an average of £8,500 in real-terms wage losses, according to a TUC analysis of wage trends published today.
The TUC research, which tracks wage and inflation data between 2009 and 2012, as well as forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) from 2012 onwards, shows UK workers are just a quarter of the way through the UK's 12-year wage dive.
Incomes have fallen sharply in real terms over the last three years, as wages have failed to keep up with the rising cost of living. The poor state of the economy has kept pay down, with wages frozen across the public sector and in many struggling businesses.
The OBR predicts wages will continue to get smaller until 2013, and that real wage growth after that point will be very weak - growing by just 0.5 per cent a year in real terms after 2015.
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."
He added: "Ordinary workers did not benefit enough from the proceeds of growth in the run-up to the crash as profits were hoarded by shareholders and top executives. A return to business as usual will simply postpone the next living standards crisis.
"It is clear that austerity isn't working. We need a new economic approach that delivers for all workers and their families."
