AVERAGE take-home pay has plummeted by nearly £80 a month in 2022, making this year the worst for wage growth in almost half a century, the TUC said today.

The union body’s analysis of official figures reveals that salaries adjusted for soaring inflation have slumped by £76 a month, or 3 per cent over the course of the year — the sharpest fall since 1977 and the second worst since the end of World War II.

But the study, mostly based on Office for National Statistics data, shows that the Tory government’s decision to hold down public-sector wages means that the impact is being disproportionately felt by key workers, the TUC stressed.