Low wages are 'return to pre-industrial Britain', says Bank of England economist

Andy Haldane says rise in self-employment and drop in union membership mirrors weak workforces of pre-1750 era

The lack of wage growth in Britain's economy is the result of turning the clock back to the days before the Industrial Revolution when there were no trade unions and self-employment was rife, the chief economist of the Bank of England has suggested.

Andy Haldane said the current relationship between pay and employment had more in common with the period between 1500 and 1750 than in the subsequent period, because in the post-1750 era, collective bargaining and the expansion of full-time paid employment meant workers were able to secure generous pay awards when labour was scarce.

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