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Official figures published later this week are expected to show real wages growing at their fastest rate for eight years, according to new analysis.
The Resolution Foundation think-tank predicts average weekly earnings growth will have jumped to an annual rate of between 2.5 and 2.6% in February-April 2015, compared to 2.2% in January-March.
Combined with inflation falling to -0.1% in April, it means real wages rose by 2.5-2.7%, their fastest rate since October 2007, the study found.
Official figures on Wednesday are expected to show that growth in average earnings in the private sector increased to 3.0-3.2% in February-April, the highest real terms growth since September 2007, said the report.
The Foundation expects real wage growth to level out in May if inflation edges up.
The return of respectable real wage growth is desperately needed, said the Foundation, following the UK's six-year pay squeeze. It added that average weekly earnings are still lower than they were a decade ago and are around £100 a week lower than they might have been in the absence of the downturn.
Matthew Whittaker, chief economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: "The good news is that real wages are now, finally, growing at a respectable rate by historical standards. The bad news is that this only appears to be happening because of inflation falling to unprecedented levels.
"Normally we'd have expected wages to grow at this rate far earlier on in a recovery, so there is an enormous amount of ground to make up. We need to see real wage growth sustained at this rate year on year.
"Ultimately, rising productivity will determine the strength of pay packets over the long-term, and tackling Britain's productivity problems should be the Chancellor's top priority in the run-up to the Budget."
