Why are wages not keeping up with inflation?

Real wages sank after the global financial crisis and only returned to pre-2008 levels very recently

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Commuters walking across London Bridge during rush hour
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David Spencer, professor of economics and political economy at the University of Leeds, on why wage inflation continues to lag behind price inflation

There has been a huge amount of concern about rising inflation in recent months, and it’s made worse by the fact that wage inflation has not been keeping up. A few workers in high-paid jobs have enjoyed higher bonuses and inflation-busting pay rises – it has just been reported that CEO pay has recovered to pre-pandemic levels for instance. But for the majority of workers, higher price inflation is now eroding the real value of what they earn.

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