Real-terms pay rises could become a thing of the past unless the UK’s improves it comparatively low productivity rates, according to HR group the CIPD.

The organisation points to figures showing that average weekly earnings are up to 10.2 per cent lower than they were five years ago.

It compares the UK’s recent experience with that of the us, where the average worker hasn’t seen a real-terms pay-rise since 1979.

Mark Beatson, chief economist at CIPD, said: “We need to recognise as a nation that real increases in pay will only be delivered through increases in productivity.

"We need a shared agenda to produce the long-term improvement in productivity needed to make higher pay affordable and sustainable without pushing up unemployment.”

Figures accompanying the report show a third of employees don’t expect a pay rise in 2014. The median pay rise anticipated was a below inflation two per cent.