British average hourly real pay down since 2008

British average real hourly wages were around 7.6 percent below their 2008 level in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to a report released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday. There was substantial variation between industries, with the workers in the construction industry hit most, whose real hourly wages were around 13.4 percent below their pre-downturn level in 2008. While in the finance and business services industry, real hourly wages were just 4.2 percent lower than in 2008, said ONS in its April economic review. "The weakness of productivity growth since the onset of the economic downturn is one of main factors which has influenced the path of real wages over the last five years," said ONS. Frances O'Grady, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said the latest analysis by the ONS was evidence that living standards are not rising despite economic recovery. "We need a recovery that benefits ordinary families, rather than one where the proceeds of growth just go to the same old wealthy elites," she said.