pay cut

pay cut (plural pay cuts)

1. (business, finance) A reduction in salary or wages.
   • 2022 January 12, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 25:

     I'm not suggesting across-the-board pay cuts (even I'm not that extremist), but I am suggesting that a three-year pay freeze for all staff above the living wage level should be considered.

• “pay cut”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.