10 March 2017

An analysis of the government Budget has predicted that the UK will face the worst decade of pay growth seen in 210 years.

Resolution Foundation has projected that average earnings will not return to their pre-2008 levels until 2022, marking 15 years of lost wages.

By 2020, workers will have lost £12,000 in pay increases and in that year real average income growth is expected to sink to only 0.2%, lower than it had ever been before the recession.

Torsten Bell, Director of the Resolution Foundation, warned: "Some households will feel the pinch more than others. The combination of weak pay growth and over £12bn of benefit cuts means that for the poorest third of households this parliament is actually set to be worse than the years following the financial crisis."