Royal Mail has said that it may not be able to afford its staff’s defined benefit pension scheme beyond 2018. The venerable UK postal business is unlikely to be the only company to take this drastic measure. The collapse in government bond yields, which pension funds use to calculate their ability to pay future benefits, has tipped schemes around the world into crisis.

Plunging annuity rates mean the future looks grim, too, for workers with defined contribution pensions, who have to provide for their own retirements with the proceeds of what they have paid into their plans.

The gloomy pensions scene is one way in which life has deteriorated for developed-world workers. Real wages for most people have been stagnant while executive pay has soared.