Many worry inflation will outstrip their pay

IN-WORK BRITONS across income divides are worried about their jobs and pay as an “age of automation” looms, a survey found.

Despite high levels of employment, four in five worry that inflation will outstrip their pay in future, the Populus research for the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) found.

Dividing respondents into four income groups, it found that the “just about managing” workers who Theresa May has focused on helping were more worried (85 per cent) than even the poorest “not managing”.

Even the “just saving” (79 per cent) and “comfortably saving” were worried about price increases outstripping wage rises.

The RSA, whose chief executive Matthew Taylor recently led an employment review for the Prime Minister, warned the link between employment and economic security has been “fundamentally broken” since the 2008 financial crash.

It said automation, an ageing population, climate change and Brexit uncertainty could make the problem worse.

The survey also showed a third of the “just about managing” had a household income above the national average (£34,000).

But they were still more worried about pay, progression and poverty in work than any other group, the research suggested.

Boris Johnson has raised the plight of imprisoned British mother Nazanin ZaghariRatcliffe with his Iranian counterpart on the margins of an international summit.

The Foreign Secretary yesterday highlighted the case with Mohammad Javad Zarif as he attended talks in Brussels focused on the Iran nuclear deal amid concerns about US President Donald Trump’s opposition to the agreement.