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Nearly one in four workers in Wales are paid less than the Living Wage of £7.85 an hour, according to figures released today by the Wales TUC.

In one constituency, Dwyfor Meirionnydd , the proportion not earning the Living Wage is more than a half.

The figures have been at the start of the second week of the TUC’s Fair Pay Fortnight campaign.

The trades unions body has also claimed that

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It comes at a time

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A shocking 23.9% earn less than £7.85 an hour

TUC analysis of official figures from the House of Commons Library shows that 23.9% of employees in Wales are paid less than the Living Wage.

Across Great Britain, more than five million workers get less than the Living Wage. In Wales:

Dwyfor Meirionnydd tops the list of Living Wage black spots with 50.9% of the jobs in the constituency paying less than the Living Wage.

It’s followed by Rhondda (38.9%), Clwyd South (38.8%) and Gower (37%).

For working women the picture is bleaker still. In Dwyfor Meirionnydd over half (53.1%) of jobs pay less than the Living Wage, followed by Alyn and Deeside (45.1%).

The Gower may have some of Wales' most beautiful sights but it has many lowly-paid staff in tourism and agriculture, with 45% of working paid less than the living wage, the same as the Rhondda.

Overall, some 28.6% of women in Wales are paid below the Living Wage.

At the other end of the scale, in some parts of Wales workers fare much better. Just 11.4% of jobs in Cardiff North pay less than the Living Wage, followed by Caerphilly (14.3%), Bridgend (18%) and Aberavon (18.4%)

'Extending the Living Wage is vital'

Wales TUC national officer Julie Cook said: “Extending the Living Wage is a vital step towards tackling the growing problem of in-work poverty across Wales and Britain as a whole.

“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 UK 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 governments, 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.”

Related: Nearly one in three Welsh families are trapped on low wages

Dwyfor Meirionnydd also topped the table for the highest proportion of part-time workers paid below the Living Wage at a very high rate of 77.1% . Next came Alyn & Deeside (62.5%), Gower (62.3%) and Montgomeryshire (60.1%).

Overall in Wales, 44.3% of part-time workers are paid below the Living Wage.

Liz Saville Roberts, Plaid Cymru’s general election candidate for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, who is all but certain to become the party’s first woman MP on May 7, said: “It is a real concern that more than half those in jobs in Dwyfor Meirionnydd are paid less than the Living Wage.

'Rural deprivation isn't considered'

"The way the Welsh Government determines deprivation does not take into account the rural deprivation faced by many families and this needs to be looked at as a matter of urgency.

“Plaid Cymru wants to see people move from the Minimum Wage to the Living Wage through the next Parliament, which will mean a pay rise for more than 250,000 Welsh workers by 2020, creating up to 20,000 new jobs.”

Other parties have accused Plaid Cymru of hypocrisy, because Plaid-led councils like Gwynedd have not been paying the Living Wage to all employees.

Ms Roberts said: “Gwynedd council has recognised the situation by deleting the two lowest pay points from the council pay structure as a first step towards improving the wages of the lowest paid workers, with rises of between 2.9% and 5.7% approved.”

The Living Wage is calculated annually by researchers based at Loughborough University and reflects how much income households need to afford an acceptable standard of living. It only covers paid employees – not the self-employed.