PAY has plunged across the region since the Coalition came to power, leaving workers up to a staggering £84 a week worse off, new analysis shows Wage packets have failed to keep pace with higher than expected inflation, puncturing the Government’s attempts to convince voters that economic recovery has arrived.

The statistics show that average weekly pay, before tax, fell in every part of the North- East and North Yorkshire except one, between 2010 and 2013.

In County Durham, the typical worker earned £379.90 a week last year, £21.85 less than average 2010 earnings, updated for three years of inflation.

That was a fall of 5.4 per cent, but real pay plunged by even more in Middlesbrough (7.8%), North Yorkshire (9.7%) and Redcar and Cleveland (10.9%).

In Darlington, the typical worker suffered an extraordinary 20.4 per cent loss over the three-year period, a reduction of £84.34 a week in real terms.

According to the official labour market statistics, men’s pay was largely protected, while women bore the brunt of the pain, losing £76.96 on average.

The only area of the region where pay rose in real terms was Stockton, where workers were £5.75, or 1.5 per cent, better off.

The analysis was carried out for Tom Blenkinsop, Labour MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, who blamed the findings on years of pay freezes – or near freezes – for many workers.

In addition, there had been an explosion in part-time working and zero hours contracts, which had further cut the amount staff were taking home.

Mr Blenkinsop said: “People are not working as much as they want to, nor earning as much as they need to “The effects can be seen in working people going to foodbanks and in people turning the heating off so they can afford to eat.

“The increase in food sales at Aldi and Lidl shows it isn’t just the working classes who have reduced purchasing power on the High Street for the weekly food shop.”

Mr Blenkinsop said he knew of one man who walks the ten-mile round trip from Lingdale to Redcar to visit a foodbank because the £5.30 bus fare is almost one hour’s minimum wage pay.

The plunge in pay was calculated by adding three years of CPI inflation – adding up to 10.25 per cent, said the MP – to official 2010 earnings figures.

This amount was then compared with the most recent pay figures, for 2013, and found to be lower in every district, except Stockton. The only other area to escape the pain was Hartlepool, where average gross weekly pay of £375.30 is only 32p lower than it would have been if it had risen in line with inflation.

Last month, David Cameron hit back at Labour’s “cost of living crisis” attack, by arguing take-home pay is rising for all but the top ten per cent of earners.

However, his figures were widely criticised for including cuts in income tax, while excluding changes to child benefit and tax credits and the boom in self-employment.

The respected Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank has warned living standards are unlikely to reach their pre-recession levels before next year’s general election.