Is COVID being used as an excuse to reduce salaries?

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I have seen a lot of jobs where salaries look lower than when I searched more than a year ago.

£30,000 jobs before now offering £23,000 and so on.

To think, we will see lower salaries for the next 10-15 years at least.

Sadly, I think it's a supply/ demand thing. A friend of mine is been searching and salaries are £10,000 less than a yr ago

It happens whenever there’s a big surge of people looking for work. It’s unusual that it’s across all industries at once, though, so it’ll probably be more apparent now.

I was reading last week (in the FT, I think?) that companies who will offer more remote working intend to drop salaries by an average of £7k a year too, as they see the flexibility of having one or two days a week at home as more of a pull than salary these days.

Yes definitely is! There's more unemployed people than jobs so employers can pay peanuts because there's so many desperate for a job right now

Higher unemployment, and perhaps thinking that partial wfh can save money, I think rather than Covid 19 itself.

Yes , currently looking and many paying just over minimum wage but waning lots if experience etc

How people are going to buy houses in next 5 years with these salaries I really don't know
Im looking at a huge drop and my dh wages have been frozen , yet our rent , c tax etc all gone up
Annoying thing is a lit of companies dropping wages are ones that haven't even suffered due to covid

yes, especially in my sector - fitness.

It’s being used as an excuse for everything else so it would not surprise me if it’s being used as an excuse for low salaries also.

Oh yes, they can get away with it due to the sheer amount of people looking for work. I’m on minimum wage as a learning disability support worker so nothings really changed for me. It’s always been low.

It really is appalling, particularly given so many being affected by this bore the brunt of job losses and lower salaries following the 2008 financial crisis.

Yes, it is. As pointed out, it's an excuse for everything else.

It's not an excuse, so much as a reason. The reason being supply and demand.
If there is a higher % of people who can do the job who are unemployed, then market forces mean you are likely to be able to employ someone to do a job for less money than you can when there are not many people looking for work.

As horrible as it if for the people job hunting, many businesses have had astronomical losses/falls in income and turnover, so reducing the cost of headcount is the easiest way to save money. WFH will let businesses save on office premises but not until the lease is up for renewal/hefty penalties are paid. Why would a business offer £30k when they reasonably think someone will do the job for £23-25k now? If the businesses pay people the old going rate, they may go under completely.
Finance, tech, medical salaries all seem to holding steady or increasing. All big corps aren't decreasing salaries from what I've seen either

A lot of people have had to take salary cuts. My DH has had his reduced by 12%. I am on flexifurlough so earning less.

Sadly most people's mortgages, rent, petrol, insurance, gas, water, electricity, council tax bills have not fallen. Many are getting poorer every year long before Covid, Covid has made things worse for alot of people particularly in industries like hospitality and leisure that were closed for a long time and not everyone eligible for furlough or even if they were, unable to survive on 80% of their salary - some people live month to month through not fault of their own. I know loads of people who were able to WFH who were better off financially albeit some of them have felt lonely or isolated but most of those on minimum wage do not do jobs that can be done from home as they tend to be dealing with the public in some shape or form.

I’ve noticed a decline in salaries generally, but is definitely worse now. I bought my first house in the early 90s for 78k. I thought I’d struggle on my 32k PA salary. A PA now would earn £25k? My old house in Purely is 400k. It’s ludicrous. The poverty gap will get bigger and bigger. It’s a rubbish time. I thought I had it bad in the 80s when I started out. It was wonderful compared to this 2nd world shit show we’re in now.

It’s just basic economics. If the supply of suitable candidates outstrips demand, then there’s no incentive to pay people more. I agree there is likely to be wage stagnation / decline in a lot of sectors.

Public sector employee here so anticipating yet another decade of pay freezes meaning we will effectively earn less each year. Our reward for continuing to work throughout Covid...