WAGES in Britain have fallen as sharply as in Greece since the global banking crisis, according to a new analysis.
Shock figures, based on data from the OECD, show workers are 10 per cent worse off on average than they were in 2007, the year before financial meltdown sparked a worldwide recession.
The fall across the UK was matched only by bankrupt Greece.
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The only other OECD country to see wages fall in real terms over the period was Portugal, where pay slumped by four per cent.
The analysis follows figures last week highlighting growing economic difficulties over the past 12 months.
They were accompanies by a series of warnings that growth in Scotland and across the UK would be hit further by the vote to leave the EU.
Figures for second quarter of the year, due to be published today, are expected to show UK growth cut from 0.4 per cent to 0.3 per cent.
Last week, the IMF cut its forecast for UK growth by 0.9 per cent to just 1.3 per cent for 2017, raising fears the country was heading into recession.
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The TUC, which analysed wages across the 35 industrialised OECD countries, called for greater Government spending on infrastructure projects to create jobs.
Labour, meanwhile, will today urge the SNP government to kickstart the flatlining Scottish economy by using Holyrood's new borrowing powers to launch major building schemes.
The party also repeated its call to boost spending by increasing taxes on the better off, as part of a new "Brexit Action Plan".
It said the Scottish Government should set up a "Brexit Support Fund" to help sectors likely to be hardest hit.
According to the TUC, average UK wages fell 10.4 per cent between 2007 and last year, the same figure as in Greece.
READ MORE: MPs warn of immigration "surge" ahead of post-Brexit limits on foreign workers
At the other end of the scale, wages grew 23 per cent in Poland and 13.9 per cent in Germany.
Across the world's leading economies, wages rose 6.7 per cent on average.
The analysis was based on figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
In its annual report on employment, published earlier this month, it found UK workers were 25 per cent worse off than they would have been had wages continued rising as they did between 2000 and 2007.
Only the Czech Republic, Estonia and Latvia experienced similar "sharp deceleration" in hourly wages.
The figures mirrored the most recent Scottish statistics, compiled by the STUC.
They showed that inflation alone had eroded Scots earnings by £1170, on average, since 2009.
The TUC study also showed the UK had failed to increase employment rates since the economic crisis by anything like the same levels as Germany, Hungary and Poland.
Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, said: "Wages fell off the cliff after the financial crisis, and have barely begun to recover.
"As the Bank of England recently argued, the majority of UK households have endured a lost decade of income."
She added: "People cannot afford another hit to their pay packets.
"Working people must not foot the bill for a Brexit downturn in the way they did for the bankers’ crash.
"This analysis shows why the government needs to invest in large infrastructure projects to create more decent, well-paid jobs.
"Other countries have shown that it is possible to increase employment and living standards at the same time."
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon this week set out her key tests for Brexit, arguing Scotland must be retain features of EU membership including access to the single market and free movement of people.
Warning a "hard Brexit," without such arrangement, appeared to be on the cards, she said independence may offer "the greatest certainty, stability and maximum control".
In response, Scottish Labour will today unveil its Brexit Action Plan, backing the First Minister's bid to safeguard Scotland's relationship with the EU but urging immediate action to protect the economy and jobs.
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