London: The United Kingdom (UK) lost about 2.5 million working days in 2022 to continued labor disputes, the highest number in more than three decades, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Tuesday.

In December 2022 alone, 843,000 working days were lost because of labor disputes, the highest number since November 2011, taking the annual total to a new record. In 1989, 4.1 million days were lost, the ONS noted.

"The number of working days lost to strikes rose again sharply in December. Transport and communications remained the most heavily affected areas, but there was also a large contribution from the health sector," ONS Director of Economic Statistics Darren Morgan said.

The UK has been under waves of strikes since last summer over pay disputes. Amid consistently high inflation, pay growth among employees has failed to keep up.

According to the latest ONS data, when adjusted for inflation, growth in total and regular pay fell on the year in October to December 2022 by 3.1 percent for total pay and by 2.5 percent for regular pay. It remained among the largest falls in growth since comparable records began in 2001.

"Although there is still a large gap between earnings growth in the public and private sectors, this narrowed slightly in the latest period. Overall, pay continues to be outstripped by rising prices," Morgan said.