THE worst pay squeeze in 200 years isn’t going anywhere, the TUC warned today after new figures showed further falls in take-home wages, rising unemployment and record numbers trapped on zero-hours contracts.

Despite record year-on-year pay growth of 7.8 per cent in the three months to June, real-terms salaries actually slumped by 0.6 per cent due to 40-year high inflation, the Office for National Statistics warned.

Unemployment, expected to remain unchanged, increased by 0.3 per cent to 4.2 per cent, it added, while the TUC noted that a whopping 1.2 million are now stuck in poorly paid precarious work.

The damning interventions came as Labour argued that families feel worse off following 13 years of Tory rule as monthly bills soared by an eyewatering £350 in just two years. 

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attempted to gloss over the deteriorating situation by suggesting rising pay offers a “light at the end of the tunnel” for millions struggling with the fastest decline in living standards since the 1950s.

But TUC general secretary Paul Nowak warned Downing Street that it has “nothing to celebrate,” adding: “They are presiding over the longest pay squeeze in modern history, with real wages still worth less than in 2008.

“The only group of workers enjoying a serious bump in their pay are high-earners in the City [of London]. Household budgets for the vast majority of Britons remain under intense pressure.

“Meanwhile, Britain’s jobs market is showing real signs of weakening with unemployment on the rise.”

He demanded a “credible economic plan that delivers decent, well-paid jobs for everyone.”

Mr Nowak also slammed the growing “epidemic” of insecure work, branding it a “badge of shame” for Downing Street. 

“Zero-hours contracts should have no place in the modern labour market as they allow workers to be treated like disposable labour. That’s why we need stronger rights at work.”

Unite head Sharon Graham said the country’s “broken economy means every day people are suffering.”

She added: “The benefits of being the sixth-richest economy in the world are not felt equally, as rises in rents and mortgages, monthly bills and the high costs of the weekly food shop continue.

“Until the abhorrent inequalities in our society are tackled, along with rampant profiteering, there will be no real change to people’s lives.

“Quite frankly we are sick of the trading of warm words — what we need now is action.”

The Zero Hours Justice group warned of the massive human impact of precarious work, with director Sasha Josette stressing that those affected “cannot plan their lives because they don’t know when they will be called into work and what, if anything, they will earn.

“[These] contracts must be ended through legislation and we look forward to the next government abolishing them as a matter of urgency,” she said. 

It comes as Ian Lavery became the first MP in Britain to become an accredited Zero Hours Justice employer. 

The Labour MP for Wansbeck in the north-east of England said: “No-one should be going to work unsure of when their next shift will be or if they are going to be able to earn enough to put food on the table for their family this week.

“I will be doing whatever I can in and out of Parliament to raise this issue at every opportunity to get every MP and employer around the country to commit to banishing these contracts for good.”

Labour shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth accused the government of “failing working people and businesses.

“Families are struggling to get by, there are record numbers of people out of work due to long-term sickness and the employment rate for over-50s is still below pre-pandemic levels — yet Tory ministers have no solutions.”

The party repeated pledges to “introduce a proper windfall tax on huge oil and gas profits to help families with the cost of living, build a strong economy, increase wages and bring down bills.”