Employees in Yorkshire have seen their gross annual earnings fall by an above average 15.4 per cent, or nearly £600, since April 2008 a new trade union study reveals.

Analysis of official earnings data by the GMB union shows that regional pay packets fell from an average of £23,790 in 2008 to £23,227 in November 2013.

The drop in the real value of average earnings of all workers in the UK was 13.8 per cent, based on data published by Office for National Statistics.

The research was published as John Cridland, boss of the CBI employers’ organisation called for workers’ pay to be improved following a “prolonged squeeze”, to help ensure economic growth.