MEN, younger workers and the higher paid have seen the biggest falls in pay since the 2008 financial crash, a new report says.

The "Earnings since the Recession" report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies also found that the low-paid had seen proportionately smaller falls in income than those on higher earnings.

Official statistics show that while employment levels have now returned to their pre-crisis levels, those for wages remain around five per cent below their 2008 peak.

New IFS analysis shows these changes have affected different groups in quite different ways. Women, older workers and the low-paid have seen smaller real wage falls than men, younger workers and those on higher pay.

Key findings include:

*earnings inequality has narrowed with the lower paid having seen their hourly rate of pay fall by 3.3 per cent since 2008 while the higher paid have seen theirs fall by 6.4 per cent;

*men have seen larger falls in pay than women; 7.3 per cent to 2.5 per cent - this is partly due to the fact more women work in the public sector, where the fall in pay has been less than in the private sector;

*older workers have done much better than younger workers - for those over 60, median real hourly pay in 2014 was back to its 2008 level but for those under 30 it was still nine per cent lower;

*the proportion of part-time workers who say they work part-time because they cannot get more hours is almost double its pre-crisis level and

*real earnings growth appears to be returning - the most recent official data for September to November 2014 shows mean weekly earnings rising by 1.7 per cent compared with the same months a year earlier.

Jonathan Cribb, a research economist at the IFS, said: "The pay of young adults remains well below its pre-crisis level after particularly large falls between 2008 and 2011while the average pay of those aged 60 and over has already recovered.

"Women have seen much smaller falls than men. Falls for the low-paid have been somewhat smaller than for those on higher pay, driven by trends since 2011."

Rachel Reeves, Labour's Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said: "This report shows David Cameron has overseen falling wages and rising insecurity in the labour market. Working people are £1600 worse off a year under the Tories."

She added: "Only Labour has a plan to tackle low pay and to earn our way to rising living standards for all, not just a few as part of our tough but balanced plan to get the deficit down. We will raise the National Minimum Wage to at least £8 an hour, get more homes built, cut business rates for small firms and ensure more people are paid a Living Wage."