05 June 2017
By Alan Bogg, Professor of Labour Law, the University of Oxford
Workers' rights and wage inequality have become a key political battleground this General Election following public outrage over the stagnation of real wage and the increasing gap between the haves and have nots. A TUC analysis released last summer showed that real wages fell by a massive 10.4% between 2007 and 2015 – the largest decline in the EU, matched only by Greece. But while average workers were feeling the squeeze, their bosses were flying high. FTSE 100 CEOs collected a 10% pay rise between 2014 and 2015 and now earn 183 times that of the average worker, according to the High Pay Centre.