23 February 2015

In some parts of Britain half the jobs are paying less than the living wage, the TUC reveals today (Monday) at the start of the second week of the TUC’s Fair Pay Fortnight.

TUC analysis of official figures from the House of Commons Library shows that nationally one in five jobs pays under the living wage – currently set at £9.15 in London and £7.85 across the rest of Britain. But in some parliamentary constituencies more than half of the people working there earn less than this.

Across Great Britain, more than five million people get paid less than the living wage. Birmingham Northfield tops the list of living wage blackspots with 53.4 per cent of people working there earning less than £7.85 an hour, followed by Kingswood near Bristol (51 per cent) and Dwyfor Meirionnydd in north Wales (50.9 per cent).

In other parts of Britain a substantial number of workers also get paid less than the living wage – in Harrow West in north west London (48.9 per cent), Chingford and Woodford Green in north east London (48.3 per cent), East Yorkshire (42.4 per cent), Blackpool South (42.1 per cent), South East Cornwall (40.2 per cent), Heywood and Middleton in Greater Manchester (39.8 per cent) and Rhondda in south Wales (38.9 per cent).

For working women the picture is even bleaker. Well over half of women working in Birmingham Northfield (63.1 per cent), Kingswood (59.6 per cent) and East Yorkshire (58.7 per cent) take home less than the living wage. And over half of women working in Heywood and Middleton (53.9 per cent), Dwyfor Meirionnydd (53.1 per cent) and Blackpool South (50.7 per cent) earn less than £7.85 an hour.

In some parts of the country – mostly in the South East – there are high paying areas where workers fare much better. In Poplar and Limehouse in East London just 7.5 per cent of people working there earn less than the living wage, followed by Edinburgh South West (7.9 per cent), Guildford (8.4 per cent), South Cambridgeshire (8.5 per cent) and Runnymede and Weybridge in Surrey (8.9 per cent).

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Extending the living wage is a vital step towards tackling the growing problem of in-work poverty across Britain.

“Working families have experienced the biggest squeeze on their living standards since Victorian times, and these living wage figures show that women are disproportionately affected. Pay has been squeezed at all levels below the boardroom, and the government’s mantra about ‘making work pay’ is completely out of touch with reality.

“The number of living wage employers is growing rapidly and unions are playing their part in encouraging more employers to sign up and pay it. But we need to see a far wider commitment to pay the living wage from government, employers and modern wages councils – to drive up productivity and set higher minimum rates in industries where employers can afford to pay their staff more.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Top 10 GB living wage blackspots (men and women)

Parliamentary constituency Per cent employees paid below living wage 1 Birmingham Northfield 53.4% 2 Kingswood 51.0% 3 Dwyfor Meirionnydd 50.9% 4 Harrow West 48.9% 5 Chingford and Woodford Green 48.3% 6 East Yorkshire 42.4% 7 Blackpool South 42.1% 8 South East Cornwall 40.2% 9 Heywood and Middleton 39.8% 10 Rhondda 38.9%

Top 10 GB living wage brightspots (men and women)

Parliamentary constituency Per cent employees paid below living wage 1 Poplar and Limehouse 7.5% 2 Edinburgh South West 7.9% 3 Guildford 8.4% 4 South Cambridgeshire 8.5% 5 Runnymede and Weybridge 8.9% 6 Crawley 10.2% 7 Bermondsey and Old Southwark 10.1% 8 Cities of London and Westminster 10.4% 9 Holborn and St Pancras 10.9% 10 Bracknell 11.0% 11 Oxford East 11.0%

Top 10 GB living wage blackspots (women)

Parliamentary constituency Per cent employees paid below living wage 1 Birmingham Northfield 63.1% 2 Kingswood 59.6% 3 East Yorkshire 58.7% 4 Enfield Southgate 56.6% 5 Heywood and Middleton 53.9% 6 Dwyfor Meirionnydd 53.1% 7 Blackpool South 50.7% 8 Harrow West 49.9% 9 Forest of Dean 49.7% 10 Leigh 49.1%

Top 10 GB living wage brightspots (women)

Parliamentary constituency Per cent employees paid below living wage 1 Poplar and Limehouse 10.1% 2 Guildford 10.5% 3 Runnymede and Weybridge 10.7% 4 Holborn and St Pancras 11.1% 5 Bermondsey and Old Southwark 11.8% 6 Dundee West 12.0% 7 Oxford East 12.2% 8 Cities of London and Westminster 12.3% 9 Islington South and Finsbury 12.6% 10 Cardiff North 12.9%

House of Commons Library figures, based on data from the Office for National Statistics

- The full analysis of who is paid under the living wage by constituency and local authority is available through the Office for National Statistics/House of Commons: Percentage of employee jobs with hourly pay excluding overtime below the living wage by region and parliamentary constituency (place of work), UK, April 2013 and 2014

- The TUC is organising Fair Pay Fortnight 2015 between Monday 16 February and Sunday 1 March. The Fortnight is part of the TUC’s Britain Needs a Pay Rise campaign and will feature a series of events across England and Wales to raise awareness about low pay, pay inequality and the need for higher pay settlements in the public and private sector. For more information please visit www.fairpayfortnight.org

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Follow the TUC on Twitter: @tucnews

Contacts:

Media enquiries:

Clare Santry T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: csantry@tuc.org.uk

Alex Rossiter T: 020 7467 1285 M: 07887 572130 E: arossiter@tuc.org.uk

Tim Nichols T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07876 452902 E: tnichols@tuc.org.uk

