Workers are suffering the worst attack on their pay since the mid-1800s, research by the TUC revealed yesterday.

The continuing cuts in the value of workers’ pay today “have no historical precedent” and are worse even than during the Great Depression of the 1930s and other major economic slumps between 1865-7, 1874-78, 1921-3 and 1976-7.

Falls in wages during previous crises lasted two years, apart from 1874-78 when there were four consecutive years of falling real earnings, the study found. After the initial drops, earnings growth resumed.

But now Britain is “in the seventh year of financial earnings pain” and there has yet to be any let up, the TUC said, whereas seven years after the start of the slumps of the 1860s and 1970s, earnings were above their pre-crisis peak.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “It’s shocking that even the most infamous periods of pay depression in the last 150 years pale in comparison when looking at the current seven-year collapse in earnings.”

Although earnings after the downturns of the 1870s and 1920s failed to get back to where they had been before the economy went into freefall, the TUC analysis shows that the current pay squeeze is twice as tight as the worst of the previous instances — an 8 per cent wage drop com

Pared to 4 per cent in the 1920s.

Ms O’Grady said: “The government says the economy is growing again, but there’s no evidence of any recovery in ordinary workers’ pay packets. Across the country people are struggling to make ends meet as their pay lags behind prices and there seems to be no end in sight to their financial misery.

“Vast swathes of Britain are long overdue a pay rise. That’s why we expect to see tens of thousands join our march next weekend, calling on politicians and employers to help them share in the recovery and start spending again without fear of falling into debt.”

The TUC is holding the Britain Needs a Pay Rise march and rally in London on Saturday. See www.tuc.org.uk/economic-issues/britain-needs-pay-rise for more information.