The pay of bankers’ has risen three times as fast as nurses’ wages and other NHS frontline staff since the 2008 financial crash, according to analysis by the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
The TUC, which represents trade unions, analysed private and public sector pay over the last 15 years to find that the financial sector pay has grown at 3.2 times the rate at which the pay of nurses has grown.
On average, nurses now earn £32,934 a year according to the TUC’s research, up from £26,123 in 2008. This growth is far less than those working in the financial sector, with average pay of £80,390 for those employed in finance and insurance sectors, a near-doubling of their average 2008 pay of £43,901.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: ‘At a time when ministers are telling dedicated public servants they can’t have a pay rise, they’re letting city executives take home ever bigger sums.
‘It’s not right. We can’t live in a country where nurses are having to use food banks to get by, while bankers are allowed to help themselves to unlimited bumper bonuses. This all boils down to political choices. Ministers could be taxing wealth and giving all of our public sector workers a decent pay rise.
‘But instead, they are choosing to inflict more pay misery on our nurses, paramedics and midwives. Let’s be clear. Without decent pay rises, many more of our dedicated key workers in the public sector will vote with their feet and leave their professions for good.’
