Workers on average have lost £20,000 in real wages since 2008 as a result of pay not keeping up with the inflation, according to a new analysis.
Figures compiled by the TUC showed the impact on some in the public sector was even worse, with nurses having lost lost £42,000.
Paul Nowak, the incoming TUC general secretary, warned of a “living standards nightmare” and “two decades of lost pay”.
It comes amid widespread strike action by NHS staff, rail workers and others in protest over pay and conditions.
Downing Street yesterday refused to back down and said workers could not be allowed “double-digit pay rises” as it would fuel inflation.
The TUC analysis, dawn from ONS statistucs, said workers on average have lost £1,450 a year since 2008.
Nurses have lost £42,000 in real earnings since 2008 – the equivalent of £3,000 a year.
Midwives have lost £56,000 in real earnings since 2008 – the equivalent of £4,000 a year.
And paramedics have lost £56,000 in real earnings since 2008 – the equivalent of £4,000 a year.
Nowak said it meant workers had been “left with no choice” but to take industrial action.
“UK workers are on course for two decades of lost pay. This is the longest squeeze on earnings in modern history,” he said.
“We can’t go on like this. We can’t be a country where nurses are having to use foodbanks, while City bankers get unlimited bonuses.”
Further travel disruption hit the UK this week due to strikes from Border Force staff, railway workers and driving instructors over pay, jobs and conditions.
Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) members working as Border Force officers at Gatwick, Heathrow, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester and Glasgow airports and the port of Newhaven resumed strikes on Wednesday for four days.
Driving examiners and local driving test managers also launched a five-day strike, with the walk-out involving PCS members in 71 test centres in eastern England and the Midlands who are employed by the Driver and Vehicles Standards Agency (DVSA).
West Midlands Trains said that none of its services would be running from Wednesday morning as a result of 24-hour strike action.
Great Western Railway warned of disruption as staff walked out from 12pm until 11.59am on Thursday.