WORKERS are facing a “perfect cost-of-living storm,” trade unionists warned today after the latest inflation figures revealed how much wages are losing their value.

The figures from the government’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that real wages fell by 1.2 per cent in December last year, the largest fall in eight years.

The Bank of England has forecast that workers on average will be £50 a month worse off in 2022 as prices continue to rise.

Meanwhile, the number of workers suffering on zero-hours contracts has reached one million — an increase of more than 40,000.

Black and ethnic minority workers are twice as likely to be unemployed as white workers.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Working families need financial security. But they face a perfect cost-of-living storm.

“Pay packets are plummeting in value as bills and prices skyrocket.

“This huge pressure on household budgets will only get worse unless the government takes proper action.”

She said that the figures illustrated the effects of racism on employment.

“Covid-19 has shone a spotlight on the racism BME [black and minority ethic] workers face in the labour market,” she said.

“Ministers must challenge the discrimination that holds BME workers back.

“Banning zero-hours contracts and introducing mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting would be a good start.”

Workers will be hit in April by a 1.2 per cent rise in National Insurance payments, and energy bills are expected to shoot up by at least 50 per cent.

Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Pat McFadden said: “These figures confirm working people still face a fragile recovery in the face of a growing cost-of-living crisis and spiralling inflation.

“Twelve years of the Conservatives’ record means working people today will not only be paying more in tax under the Conservatives but face heating bills rocketing, prices rising and falling real wages.”

The Labour MP said the party’s plan to deal with rising energy bills “is funded by a one-off windfall tax on oil and gas producers, and would save most households around £200, with £600 off bills for those who need it most.”