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New research lays bare how Wales’ low wages make it harder to attract skilled workers to the nation instead of moving to London.

Workers who move to the UK capital have seen their earnings jump by an average of 18% in the so-called “big smoke bonus”.

But people who move to Wales for work were likely to have a pay increase of only 4.5% in 2015-16, according to the latest findings by the Resolution Foundation.

The findings have fuelled fears that Wales is losing its “best and its brightest” to higher-paying parts of the UK.

The typical pay rise that comes with moving to a region for work Resolution Foundation

Wales had the second lowest average pay boost of anywhere in Great Britain and the situation has got worse since the 2007-2009 period when the average return on moving to Wales was 7%.

Stephen Clarke, a senior economic analyst with the think tank, said the London pay bonus was “a pretty damning indictment of the scale of regional economic imbalances throughout Britain”.

People who move to the southeast have seen their pay jump by 9% on average, the second highest increase in Great Britain.

Those who go to Scotland have experienced a 6.4% boost. The Northeast of England has the lowest average increase at just 1.5%.

Tories say people are 'voting with their feet' and leaving Wales

Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said the Welsh figure pointed to a “lack of high-paid, quality jobs in Wales”.

He said: “We’ve had two decades of the Labour Party ruling the roost in Wales and wages are significantly lower than the rest of the UK – with Welsh workers now £49 worse off every week than Scottish workers, despite being on a par with one another 20 years ago. Because of this, more and more people are voting with their feet, and we are losing our best and brightest to economies across the border and around the world.”

The Resolution Foundation revealed that in the last three months of 2017 around 290,000 people moved jobs. However, this is 15% down on the average before the financial crisis.

It found out that once housing costs are taken into effect, typical incomes in London are lower than those in the South West, despite hourly pay being £5 higher.

Plaid says Wales' transport has been 'left to rot at the hands of Westminster'

Plaid Cymru Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts was deeply concerned about the consequences of young people leaving Wales.

She said: “One of the key factors behind Wales’ low economic performance relative to the rest of the UK is our low proportion of working-age people. While young people are being lured away by higher wages elsewhere, those who move to Wales are disproportionately outside working-age, meaning we have a lower proportion of people contributing to the economy and a higher proportion dependent on it.”

Pressing for change, she said: “If we are to redress the balance in our economy, we have to boost wages and standard of living for our citizens. Increasing productivity is a central factor in boosting wages and key to productivity is investment in digital and transport infrastructure.

“When we see the scandalous imbalance of infrastructure investment across the UK – focussed almost exclusively on England, and on the Southeast of England in particular at the expense of Wales – it is no wonder that the wage gap between Wales and London is so high.

“For as long as Welsh taxpayers’ money is being used to fund England-only transport projects like HS2, Crossrail and Crossrail 2, and our own transport infrastructure is left to rot at the hands of Westminster politicians, Wales’s economic potential won’t be met.”

The Resolution Foundation’s Mr Clarke said that moving jobs was a “key route to a big pay rise” but people were “no more likely to move to London for work than they were before the crisis”.

He said: “Of course there are plenty of positive reasons for people being comfortable working where they are. But it says something about the scale of London’s housing crisis that even 20% pay rises can’t persuade more people to move to jobs in the capital.”