London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 01, 2025

UK workers suffer biggest hit to their wages since records began

UK workers suffer biggest hit to their wages since records began

UK workers have suffered the biggest drop in their spending power in more than 20 years as prices keep soaring.
Average real wages — which account for inflation — fell by 3% between April and June compared with the same period last year, according to data from the Office for National Statistics published Tuesday.

"The real value of pay continues to fall. Excluding bonuses, it is still dropping faster than at any time since comparable records began in 2001," Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said in a tweet.

Regular pay (excluding bonuses) was up 4.7% between April and June, the ONS said, but with prices rising at a much faster rate, employees are left worse off.

Inflation has soared to 9.4%, a 40-year high, pushing the Bank of England to raise interest rates six times since December, and prices are projected to go even higher later this year.

On Tuesday, data firm Kantar said that UK grocery price inflation hit 11.6% over the past four weeks, the highest level it had seen in 14 years of tracking the data. Average annual shopping bills are up by £533 ($640).

Colossal rises in energy bills — the average annual bill has already jumped 54% this year to hit nearly £2,000 ($2,410) — have plunged millions of Britons into a cost-of-living crisis, forcing many to choose between "heating or eating."

Further pain is on the way. Annual energy bills for millions of households could top £5,000 ($6,000) next spring, according to estimates by research firm Auxilione.

"As real wages fall, the pressure on low-income families grows ever greater. It's simply not right that people are having to make increasingly impossible decisions about which essentials to give up," the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, an anti-poverty charity, said in a Tuesday tweet.

UK workers have been clamoring for pay rises in recent months to manage the squeeze. In June, thousands of rail workers went on strike to demand that their pay rose in line with inflation, and further walkouts are planned this week.

On Tuesday, thousands of check-in staff at British Airways secured an average 13% pay rise after they threatened to go on strike.

Unite, the workers' union, said the increase would help reverse pay cuts staff took during the pandemic.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
×