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Despite an upturn in the economy, there are ‘far too many people stuck in minimum-wage jobs’, he said.

In the CBI’s annual new year’s message, Mr Cridland called on companies to offer ‘better pay and more opportunities for their employees’. 

‘If 2013 was the year that business trust took a hammering on a range of issues from corporate taxation to energy prices, then 2014 must be the year that business leaders take action to rebuild that trust.’

‘If we get productivity going, we are creating more wealth, and we can share it,’ he said.

‘It's nice for once to have a somewhat more upbeat message. The message is, if the economy is growing, we can have everybody swim upwards.’

The head of the CBI predicts that wages will increase in the coming year but says the fact that 890,000 workers are ‘stuck in minimum-wage jobs without routes to progression’ is a ‘serious challenge that businesses and the government must address’.

‘Businesses must support employees in every part of the country to move up the career ladder, while also giving a helping hand to young people taking their first tentative steps into the world of work,’ Mr Cridland said.

 

Funded by businesses, the CBI is Britain’s biggest business lobby group.