UK wage decreases one of highest in EU

Published on 04/03/2013 00:00

Britain has suffered one of the biggest drops in real wages in the European Union over the last two years, according to figures released by the Labour Party.

Research commissioned from the independent House of Commons library showed real wages (wages minus inflation) in the UK fell by 3.2 per cent between the third quarter of 2010 – when Chancellor George Osborne held his last spending review – and the third quarter of 2012. The figure was the same as for Portugal. Among the 27 EU member states, only the Netherlands, Cyprus and Greece suffered greater falls.