MILLIONS of workers are facing a cut to pay as inflation eats into household earnings, while unemployment rates rise.
New figures released today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that regular pay in real terms fell by 2.6%.
The rate of UK unemployment rose to 3.7% in the three months to November, up from 3.5% in the previous three-month period, the ONS said.
It comes as the UK’s rate of inflation fell to 10.7% in November, after hitting a 41-year high in the previous month.
Prices are rising at a faster rate than pay, which means people’s incomes are squeezed.
It’s a pay cut in real terms as wages are going up, and they don’t match the rate of inflation – which means people are effectively worse off.
Meanwhile, there were 1.161 million job vacancies on average across October to December 2022.
It follows official data last week revealing the economy unexpectedly grew by 0.1% in the month to November.
However, the ONS said that in the three months to November, gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.3%.
