A fall in average earnings has cost some Westcountry workers more than £2,000 since the Coalition Government came to power, according to new figures from the South West TUC.
In Cornwall, weekly incomes have fallen by 7.7% to £417 while in Devon pay packets have shrunk by 3.4% to £443 – a drop of 3.4% since 2010.
The worst figures were seen in Plymouth where weekly earnings fell 8.33% from £495 in 2010 to £454 in 2012 – a total of £2,132 over the two years.
Torbay bucked the regional trend, seeing a 1.6% rise from £402 to £408 over the same period, although earnings are the lowest in the South West.
Regional secretary Nigel Costley said: "The Government says it wants work to pay, but these figures prove that's not the case.
"The cuts are making recovery less likely and pose the prospect of a generation lost to austerity. Young people's careers and life chances are being dashed and the Westcountry is returning to a low wage economy.
"Rather than making more cuts, the Government should get the economy moving again to push up pay rates.
"It would also help to change corporate governance to give workers a larger voice, more collective bargaining and a decent industrial policy to ensure we are creating better-skilled, better-paid jobs in the future."
The figures, which do not take into account rises in VAT or cuts to benefits, were published to coincide with yesterday's South West TUC annual conference.
Addressing delegates, TUC president Lesley Mercer called on the Government to rescue the stagnant South West economy by creating jobs and building houses.
"The Coalition is attacking our jobs, our rights, and our living standards, and it is unleashing a tide of economic destruction unseen in this country since the 1930s," she said.
"Just think about the situation here in the South West – a £98 billion economy in its own right, but being battered and bruised by austerity. The services you all depend on are being cut and privatised left, right and centre."
The solution, she believes, is to build social housing and properly invest in business.
She will say: "We must make the case for a new economy.
"Our task isn't just to show there is an alternative to austerity, but to set out a vision of a fairer, stronger, more sustainable economy for the long term."
