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Thousands of individuals have joined a commerce union march calling for a "new deal" for employees and public providers.
The central-London demonstration, led by the Trades Union Congress, highlighted calls for for higher pay and job safety.
TUC analysis mentioned the UK's actual wage squeeze could be the worst in fashionable historical past and the slowest for 200 years.
The authorities mentioned its insurance policies had boosted pay for the bottom earners and meant employees might maintain extra of it.
'Below the breadline'
Demonstrators gathering at Saturday's march known as for a greater minimal wage of £10 an hour, a ban on zero-hours contracts and larger funding for the NHS, training and different public providers.
At a rally in Hyde Park on the finish of the march, Labour chief Jeremy Corbyn advised the group that his party would create a ministry to ensure employee's rights.
"We will give employees extra energy by strengthening their rights and freedoms to organise collectively to enhance their lives," he mentioned.
He blamed eight years of presidency cuts for the shortage of wage development. "They shield the tax havens and reduce the spending for public providers," Mr Corbyn mentioned.
'Like a competition in a soggy discipline'
Lisa Hampele, BBC News
Thousands upon 1000's of individuals marched by way of London's streets, some dancing, taking part in drums, shouting slogans and carrying banners aloft.
Nurses, academics, workplace employees, ambulance crews, civil servants and cleaners joined the noisy and vibrant demonstration.
As they arrived for the rally in Hyde Park the rain started and it grew to become extra like a competition in a soggy discipline. There had been meals stalls, bands taking part in and speeches from union leaders and peace campaigners.
The star of the present, Jeremy Corbynsporting a cream jacket and a large smilewas cheered like a pop star. The applause was lengthy and loud.
Mark Serwotka, normal secretary of the PCS union, advised the group that 150,000 civil servants might poll for strike motion after members had been supplied a below-inflation 1% pay rise for the 11th 12 months working.
TUC normal secretary Frances O'Grady mentioned: "There is a new temper within the nation. People have been very affected person however they're now demanding a new deal."
Meanwhile, analysis printed by TUC steered wages within the UK had lagged behind inflation since 2008, and had been price £24 much less in actual phrases than in 2008.
The TUC additionally mentioned wages wouldn't get better till 2025, by which period, it mentioned, the common employee would have misplaced £18,500.
The TUC's deputy normal secretary Paul Nowack advised the BBC that 17 years of falling wages in actual phrases amounted to the largest relative wage loss because the Napoleonic Wars.
In the final eight years, a million extra kids from working households had been residing "beneath the breadline", he mentioned.
"I do not suppose it is proper that individuals who exit and work are struggling to place meals on the desk."
Helping lowest earners
Elsewhere, economists mentioned the gradual wage development was a results of low productiveness within the UK, relatively than austerity insurance policies.
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, advised the BBC: "That implies that the quantity we produce for every hour we work is principally the identical because it was in 2008. If we're not producing any extra, we're not ultimately going to have the ability to earn any extra."
A Treasury spokesperson mentioned wages had been forecast to develop sooner than inflation in every of the subsequent 5 years, and that authorities insurance policies had been serving to British employees.
"Our National Living Wage has boosted pay for the bottom earners by over £2,000 already; we're slicing taxes to assist individuals maintain extra of what they earn; and we're ensuring individuals have the abilities they should safe high-quality, well-paid jobs by investing in technical training and boosting apprenticeships."
The TUC mentioned its figures had been based mostly on annual common weekly earnings for whole pay (together with bonuses) adjusted with the CPI measure of inflation, which had been then in contrast with long-run again information printed by the Bank of England.
The forward-looking ones had been based mostly on the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast to 2022, and then a projection to 2025 utilizing the common forecast development price for the 2018-22 interval.