New analysis reveals workers in Wales losing out on £152 a week

• Workers in Wales would be £152 a week better off if pay had grown at pre-2008 crisis trends
• Real wages still below 2008 level in over a quarter of local authority areas
• Wales TUC says longest pay squeeze in modern era is a “damning indictment” of the Conservatives’ economic record

Pay packets are still worth less than in 2008 in more than a quarter (32%) of local authority areas, according to new Wales TUC analysis, published today (Monday).

The analysis of official statistics shows that 16 years on from the financial crash wages are lower – in real terms – in seven of Wales’s 22 local authorities.

Across Wales as whole, average weekly pay is just £12 more – in real terms – than in 2008 after more than decade of economic stagnation. This equates to just 2% real wage growth across sixteen years.

And in every local authority, real wages are far below where they would be if they had grown at the pre-2008 growth rate.

The union body estimates that if wage growth had been sustained at previous rates the average worker in Wales would be £152 a week better off.

Unprecedented pay squeeze

Wales TUC described the findings as a “damning indictment” of the Conservatives’ economic record, as workers endure the longest pay squeeze in more than 200 years.

The UK has one of the worst records among OECD nations for pay growth since the financial crisis.  The analysis shows that even in areas where real wages have recovered, pay growth is way below historic trends.

When the Conservatives took office in 2010, a wage recovery was already underway following the financial crisis. However, the wage recovery went into reverse when the Conservatives hit the UK with their austerity programme, including real terms pay cuts across the public sector.

Wales TUC General Secretary Shavanah Taj said:

“Workers in Wales have endured over a decade of incredibly slow pay growth – it’s a damning indictment of the UK Government’s economic record.

“Their failure to grow the economy – and their scorched-earth austerity policies – has decimated household budgets. Just imagine how much better off people would be if they had an extra £152 a week in their pay packets – and how much more prosperous Wales would be.

“It doesn’t have to be this way. We can create a new era of decent pay growth again where living standards rise. We need a proper plan to get the economy growing again by investing in industry, and a New Deal so that working people get a fair share of the wealth they create.”