Estate agents and auctioneers are among workers being paid less in real terms than seven years ago.

A Mirror investigation studied take-home pay in over 400 occupations to find the winners and losers from the years of austerity.

It found that two in three jobs now pay less in real terms than in 2011.

The newspaper looked at: what each occupation should have earned on average last year, after tax, had their earnings risen in line with inflation since 2011; and what they actually earned last year.

In the case of estate agents and auctioneers, net earnings last year should have been £18,629 had pay kept up with inflation.

What was actually earned was on average £17,102.

This was a drop of 8.2%, or £1,526.

Worse off, though, are key workers:  probation officers, whose take-home pay was 21% less than it would have been had their wages risen with inflation; paramedics, down 14%; special needs teachers, down 13%; and midwives down 11%.

By contrast, airline pilots are up 8%, and train drivers up 4%.

Perhaps not surprisingly MPs did better than most, with a small rise of £37, taking net pay to almost £1,000 a week – two and a half times the national average.

The conclusion seems obvious: learn how to drive a plane or a train, or stand for Parliament.