real wagesnoun [ plural ]
ukusalso real income [ C or U ]ECONOMICS the value of money earned by workers in an economy at a particular time, after taking into account the effect of inflation on what can be bought with that money:
A decrease in real wages and disposable incomes means that mortgage-payers are really suffering from recent interest rate rises.
Real wages have fallen behind inflation, and the income gap between rich and poor continues to widen.