More working days were lost to strike action in 2022 than in any year since 1989, according to official figures that also show pay growth failing to keep pace with inflation. The Office for National Statistics reported 843,000 working days lost in December alone, the highest monthly figure for over a decade, as strikes hit the NHS, rail, Royal Mail, and civil service.
For 2022 as a whole, over 2.4 million working days were lost, the highest annual total since 4.1 million in 1989. The ONS data also revealed that real-term pay, excluding bonuses, fell by 3.6% in the three months to December – one of the largest drops since comparable records began in 2001.
Annual regular pay growth for all workers stood at 6.7% in the period, the fastest since 2001 outside the pandemic, but still well below the headline inflation rate of 10.5%. Private sector pay grew by 7.3%, while public sector wages rose just 4.2%.
The figures also showed a record high of 1.13 million workers on zero-hours contracts. Unemployment edged up to 3.7%, close to a 50-year low, but job vacancies fell for the seventh consecutive quarter amid economic slowdown.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, said the government had chosen to make millions poorer by holding down public sector pay, adding that workers were being pushed to breaking point. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt described low unemployment as an encouraging sign of resilience and reiterated the plan to halve inflation this year.
