Millions of workers who had jobs in 2008 warned over their 'pay'

Workers across Britain have suffered from stagnant or falling wages since 2008, according to research, amid fears that the weak economy poses a further threat to living standards.
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Millions of workers have been issued a 16-year warning over their pay. Workers across Britain have suffered from stagnant or falling wages since 2008, according to research, amid fears that the weak economy poses a further threat to living standards.

A report by the Centre for Cities think tank warns that workers in most parts of the country are no better off than they were 16 years ago. Andrew Carter, the chief executive of the Centre for Cities, said that raising economic growth is “the only sustainable route to higher wages”, and urged Rachel Reeves to take immediate action.

He said: “The stark nature of [the] findings shows an incremental approach is not going to be enough. Boldness, urgency and scale are crucial.” The Centre for Cities report found that wages have stagnated in both the North and South.

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Londoners make 24 percent more than the average, and 68 percent more than workers in Britain’s worst-paid place, Burnley. This means that by August, an average worker in London has made what someone in Burnley earns in a whole year.

Workers in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, have experienced the steepest drop in real wages, meaning they today earn nearly a fifth less than in 2008. Nikesh Sawjani, an economist at Lloyds, said: “Faced with continued cost pressures, our data suggests that firms are taking decisions to reduce operating expenses to protect their margins.”

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In Aberdeen, almost half of the output from its export base coming directly from oil and gas exploration – an industry that is under threat from the shift to net zero. Others include cars for Sunderland and IT for Reading, the data shows.

Lloyds found that only three sectors reported any growth at the end of 2024. They included software services, real estate and financial services – all sectors concentrated in the South East.