BRITAIN’S living wage, an hourly rate promoted by the Living Wage Foundation and the mayor of London to encourage employers to pay above the legally binding minimum wage, has been a measured success. Since its inception in London in 2008 it has risen by 3% in real terms, while the gross median wage in the city has fallen by 10%. Some 1,775 firms have signed up and are accredited as Living Wage Employers. But data published this week by the Office for National Statistics indicate a downside. Most of the new jobs in Britain’s now-booming economy are in low-skilled, low-paid work.

In 2010, 13% of employees in the capital were paid less than the living wage; but by 2014 that proportion had risen to 19%. London is the most prosperous region of England and has the second-biggest workforce. But it also has the highest number of people paid below the living wage: 752,000 employees. In half of the boroughs in the capital, more than a quarter earn less than the living wage. Harrow is the worst example with a rate of over 40%. A similar trend has occurred outside London. The ONS notes that 872,000 jobs have been created nationally since 2012, but fully 826,000 of those pay less than the living wage. With almost 6m people failing to obtain the living wage in such a flourishing economy it has become a moral cause; ensuring that everybody shares in the prosperity is proving a moral dilemma.