UK among worst for wage drops across EU
Britain has suffered one of its the biggest drops in median pay over the last two years, recent figures have revealed. Out of the EU's 27 member-states, only the Netherlands, Cyprus and Greece performed worse than the UK.
So-called 'real wages,' taking into account inflation, plunged
3.2 percent between fall 2010 and 2012. The latest analysis,
commissioned by Labour Party, puts Britain as seeing the
fourth-worst decline in median pay across the eurozone – ranking
24th out of the EU's 27 nations.
According to Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls MP, the UK figures
demonstrate “just how far Britain is falling behind the rest of
Europe under this Government.”
"Urgent action is needed in the Budget to kick-start our
stagnant economy and help people on middle and low incomes
struggling with the rising cost of living," Huffington Post
quoted MP Balls as saying.
The recession makes yet a stronger impact when compared to Bulgaria
and Romania which proved to be Europe’s champions, with Bulgarians
and Romanians celebrating 12 and 6 percent rises in wages,
respectively.
According to Eurostat data, real wages in France have gone up by
0.2 percent, and Germany saw a healthy 2.4 percent increase. Sweden
and the Czech Republic both boasted gains of 3.4 and 3.3 percent,
respectively.
Across the EU, an average pay decline of 0.7percent was reported:
Italy suffered a 2.2 percent drop, Spain a 1.1 percent plunge and
Ireland a modest 0.2 percent fall.
