Nurses, care home staff and police officers are thousands of pounds worse off than they were a decade ago as a result of wages failing to keep up with prices, union the TUC has said.
Essential workers – many of whom will be working on Christmas day – have seen their incomes fall heavily since 2010, despite working around to clock to keep the country running.
Police officers have had the biggest reduction, with inflation-adjusted pay £5,595 a year lower than a decade ago.
Nurses have had an effective wage cut of £2,715 and local authority care workers a cut of £1,661, the TUC report found.
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A chef would be earning £1,050 more a year this Christmas had pay kept pace with price rises, while a waiter would be £859 better off, it added.
It is now urging the government to raise the minimum wage to £10 an hour.
It comes as inflation is running at 5.1% and expected by the Bank of England to peak at about 6% in the spring, putting further pressure on cash-strapped households.
Meanwhile, earnings including bonuses in the three months to October were up 4.9% on the same period in 2020.
The government has confirmed the Covid pay freeze for NHS workers will be lifted next April, although pay will rise by 3%, almost half of the predicted Spring inflation figure.
The rates for police forces and teachers are yet to be confirmed.
The national minimum wage will rise to £9.50 an hour, up from the current £8.91 rate set this April.
Frances O’Grady, the TUC’s general secretary, said: “Many of the key workers who are bracing themselves for another surge of Covid cases are earning less in real terms than they were a decade ago. That is not right.
“While many of us are tucking into the turkey, thousands of key workers will be hard at work on the front line, many of them dealing with staff shortages as a result of the Omicron variant. But their pay awards are falling way short of what they should be, especially in a cost-of-living crisis.
“The pandemic must be a turning point; 2022 should be the year that the government finally gets wages rising across the UK. They can start by giving our public service workers a proper pay rise, and by raising the minimum wage to £10 an hour.”
