Wages 'down £50 a week since 2010'
The real value of average wages has fallen by £50 a week since the coalition came to power, the TUC has claimed.
A new study showed that wages for the average full-time worker dipped by almost £500 in 2014, and by £2,500 since 2010.
General secretary Frances O'Grady said in her new year message that employers and politicians must make wage-led growth a priority for 2015.
"Despite the recovery, 2014 has been another miserable year for living standards," she said.
"The average wage is now worth £50 a week less than when this government came to power.
"In 2015 we need a fresh start. Employers are beginning to recognise that a low wage economy is holding back growth.
"It is time to turn their words into action because businesses need customers with money in their pockets. Government, employers and unions must work together to promote wage led growth.
"This means increasing pay for those at the bottom with a higher minimum wage and spreading the living wage.
"But it also means better pay for those in the middle, and a real drive to create secure, skilled jobs on decent pay rather than relying on zero-hours, involuntary part-time work and low-paid self-employment to keep the jobless figures down.
"This needs active industrial policies that help create good jobs and investment in infrastructure we need to underpin success."
Ms O'Grady added that 2015 should start to see workers having a place on remuneration committees, and an end to "macho politics", which she said was partly to blame for voters being so disillusioned with politics.
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