UK workers suffer biggest drop to paychecks for nearly nine years
Figures from the Office of National Statistics now "falling noticeably"
Last updated 29th May 2022
UK workers are continuing to struggle to make ends meet as people's paychecks go down due to inflation.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that wages had increased by 4% in the first three months of the year.
However, once the rate of inflation was factored in, workers pay actually went down by 1.8% on previous figures, excluding bonuses.
This is the steepest drop in workers' pay since the period of August-October 2013, almost nine years ago.
The ONS has said that wages are now "falling noticeably", whilst housing costs and the cost of living continues to soar.
Inflation is due to continue rising, currently standing at 6.2% - with the expectation for prices to rise by as much as 9% by autumn this year.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the Government was "helping to cushion the impacts of global price rises through more then £22 billion of support for the cost of living this financial year".
But Labour has hit back at the Government's move, saying that the plan to increase taxes including council tax and National Insurance is coming at the wrong time.
Pat McFadden, Labour's shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said Mr Sunak has "decided to make Britain the only major economy to land working people with higher taxes in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis."
It comes as the latest figures show that unemployment has fallen well below levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
In the three months up to February, unemployment stood at 3.8% of the population, a rate not seen since 1974.