How your pay’s been

Tory squeeze means most workers get less in real terms than 7 yrs ago

TWO in three jobs now pay less in real terms than seven years ago, just after the Tories took power.

A Mirror investigation compared average earnings for more than 400 occupations to find the winners and losers from the long years of austerity.

Worst off are probation officers whose 2017 take-home pay of £21,039 is £5,492 (21%) less than the £26,531 it would have been had wages risen in line with inflation since 2011.

Paramedics are down 14%, special needs teachers 13%, librarians 12%, midwives 11%, shelf fillers 10% and tyre fitters 8%.

But it is thought changes to benefits, including tax credits, mean many of the lowest paid may be even worse off than our survey is able to show.

Big winners were energy plant workers, up 20%.

Crane drivers are up 13% but union officials insist a lack of trainees mean they are working longer hours.

Aircraft pilots are up 8% and chief executives and train drivers 4%.

MPs fared better than most, with a small increase of £37 a year after tax and inflation taking net pay to nearly £1,000 a week – two and a half times the national average.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told the Mirror: “After more than eight years of failed Conservative mismanagement, real wages are lower than in 2010. And the Mirror research shows the squeeze is only worsening.

“Some workers who most deserve a rise have suffered some of the biggest cuts. Your investigation exposes the emptiness of Theresa May’s conference claim that austerity has ended.

“The next Labour Government will end the Tories’ disastrous austerity and give workers a decent pay increase with a £10-an-hour real living wage.”

At the party conference earlier this month, Mrs May admitted the after-effects of the crash were still being felt and that too many people haven’t had a decent rise.

But she promised: “Because you made sacrifices, better days are ahead.”

However, Stephen Clarke, of independent think-tank the Resolution Foundation, told the Mirror the pay outlook is weak and that benefit cuts have only just begun to take effect.

Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said: “The figures graphically demonstrate that

have been working harder and getting poorer thanks to the Tories.

“We are suffering from the most severe wage squeeze since the Napoleonic war. The economy is flat-lining while workers struggle to make ends meet. We need stronger trade union rights and a £10 minimum wage.”

UNISON boss Dave Prentis said: “The people who keep our health service, schools and local services running have taken a huge hit.

“The government must to act now to end the financial hardship.”

Ian Lawrence, of the National Association of Probation Officers, said: “The service has endured a 10-year pay freeze, much longer than other public sectors.

“Outdated pay scales means it takes 23 years to reach the top rate. However, NAPO is optimistic current pay talks will see a real overhaul for pay.”

The Mirror survey was based on figures from the Office for National Statistics, adjusted for inflation and the impact of Tory tax changes.

We were not able to include the impact of benefit cuts.

THE true cost of austerity is revealed today by our survey of people’s wages.

Almost every profession has suffered a pay squeeze over the last seven years.

The Tories may boast of record numbers in work but they have no idea what it is like for millions toiling all hours on meagre wages.

It is an indictment of this government that nurses are having to turn to food banks or take out extortionate loans to make ends meet.

This dismal decade of low pay has also held back recovery. If people had more they would spend more.

The message is clear: the country needs a pay rise.