The fall in average earnings between 2008 and 2012 was significantly larger than the 8% official estimate, says the Daily Mail, citing research by the Resolution Foundation.
The reason is that official wage data does not include the 4.5 million self employed people, who account for a growing share of the total of 30.5 million workers in the UK. Resolution reckons the decline was in fact 10%, but also suggests that because self-employed earnings are more variable, they probably rise faster than employee earnings in times like the present when the economy is growing.
The greater variance in self-employed people’s earnings means they need to be on the ball in managing their savings, and when their earnings increase, to set aside a larger amount for long-term retirement savings.