According to figures released last week by the Office for National Statistics, average pay rose by 1.8% in the three months to the end of November. This is the highest increase for more than two years — and more than three-times December’s official inflation rate of 0.5%.

The TUC said: “After six years of wages falling almost continuously in real terms as salaries failed to keep up with inflation, household pay packets are finally starting to make up some of the lost ground.” However, it will take “at least another Parliament for wages to return to pre-crisis levels”.

Deutsche Bank chief UK economist George Buckley said: “It will be interesting to see how much downward pressure low inflation rates place on wages during the typical January-April settlements season.”

Matthew Whittaker, chief economist at the Resolution Foundation ‘think tank’, said: “In preparation for a return to target inflation of 2% at some point, it’s vital that we see significant and widely shared rises in nominal wage growth through 2015.

“Pay has been picking up, but it remains a long way short of the level we’d expect to see during normal economic times. Without this rebound, we are unlikely to make up lost ground before the end of the decade.”