Real wages fall despite lowest unemployment rate in 50 years | Business

Real wages continue to fall despite the UK’s unemployment rate dropping to its lowest level since 1974, official figures reveal today.

Sharply rising inflation outpaced wage growth, leading to a decrease in real pay — including bonuses — of 2.4 per cent year-on-year in the three months to August, data from the Office for National Statistics shows.

It is one of the biggest falls in real pay, which is the value of pay packets after adjusting for the impact of inflation, since comparable records began in 2001, but below the 3 per cent drop recorded in the three months to June.

The headline rate of year-on-year growth in average weekly earnings, including bonuses, increased to 6 per cent in August, from 5.5 per cent