Sixteen million workers unlikely to get pay increase

The effects of the recession and the financial crisis has left many companies across the UK reeling, and this has impacted not only on the levels of job cuts, which have been rising, but also on pay for employees that continue to be employed by these companies.

Over the past year many workers have seen their pay frozen, or in some cases even cut, and many officials predicted that the same thing would happen this year.

A recent report has suggested that these officials were right with their predictions, and around sixteen million workers have said that they do not expect to get a pay increase this year.

The data comes from a recent YouGov survey that was conducted, and the figure equates to more than 50 percent of the UK’s workforce. The results of the survey also showed that around nine million workers expected a pay increase that would be below the level of inflation.

It is thought that the smallest pay increases are expected by nurses, civil servants, and teachers. A third of consumers also thought that this year they would be worse off than they were last year according to the survey results.

The figures suggested that around five million workers were actually spending more than they were earning, with nearly half of them having to bridge the gap by using their overdraft facility.

The survey was commissioned by the comparison site uSwitch, and an official from the firm stated: “Consumers face a double threat – the government is toying with measures such as raising taxes to reduce the public deficit, which will have a direct impact on personal finances. When coupled with lower than anticipated salary increases, it can only mean that we are in for a bumpy ride, and the situation could get worse before it gets better.”