AMID the cost-of-living crisis, wages on the Isle of Wight have dropped in real terms over the last year as inflation soared, new figures show.

Across the UK, real terms wages have fallen again.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show monthly median pay for employees on the Isle of Wight sat at £1,834 in November – up from £1,811 the month before.

Monthly pay in the area has risen by eight per cent in the last year, as the rising cost of living hits people's wallets.

But the Consumer Prices Index inflation, accounting for owner occupier's housing costs (CPIH), which the ONS uses to calculate real-terms pay, sat at 9.6 per cent in the year to October – the highest since records began in 1989.

It means people's pay packets on the Isle of Wight are not going as far as they used to, despite the rise in salary.

Across the UK, real-terms pay between August and October fell by 2.7 per cent compared to the same period the year before – slightly above the record three per cent drop seen between April and June.

The ONS data revealed a widening gap between private and public sector pay across the country, growing by 6.9 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively – among the biggest differences seen on record.

Meanwhile, unemployment continued to gradually rise after reaching its lowest point since 1974 earlier this year.

The jobless rate sat at 3.7 per cent in the three months to October – up from 3.6 per cent in the previous quarter.

In the South East, unemployment remained the same across the last two quarters at 3.5 per cent.