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The latest figures on weekly wages confirm Wales’ position as the low-pay capital of Great Britain with full-time workers earning an average of just £473.40.

This compares with gross weekly earnings in Scotland of £519.40 and in London of £660.50.

At a UK-level, the provisional figures from the Office for National Statistics showed only Northern Ireland had lower weekly earnings than Wales at £457.20.

Within Wales, Merthyr Tydfil had the lowest weekly pay (£403.10) while Flintshire (£527.80) had the highest.

The figures also reveal the scale of the pay gap between men and women.

Men in Wales in full-time work earned an average of £500.70 a week. Women earned just £421.90.

The figures suggest that workers in Wales have only seen a year-on-year weekly pay increase of 0.6%, with earnings edging up from £470.50 to £473.40. This compares with the 4% increase recorded last year.

The findings will increase alarm about the lack of wage growth across the UK and the impact on income tax receipts and Government borrowing.

At a UK level, the increase from £517.40 in 2013 to £518 represents a rise of just 0.1%. Adjusted for inflation, weekly earnings fell by 1.6%, continuing a trend since the recession, to levels last seen in the early 2000s.

Matthew Whittaker, chief economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Today’s bleak figures contrast with signs last week that the UK’s six year pay squeeze was coming to an end. While today’s data relates to April – a period in which we already knew pay was falling – the depth of decline highlights just how tentative any recent recovery remains...

“The variation in experience across employees - with strong pay growth for those who have remained in continuous employment and pay contraction among men – reinforces the role that changes in the shape of the labour market have played over the past 12 months, as we have shown in our recent work.”

Wales TUC policy officer Alex Bevan said: “Ordinary households are not sharing in the recovery and the recession in their wages continues despite the economy’s return to growth. The gains of growth are going to a few people at the top, with ordinary workers being shut out of the recovery.

“Low pay is bad news for everyone but it is the norm for far too many people in Wales. With one in four workers on less than the living wage and 71,000 people in part time roles but in need of full time hours, the terms of this recovery are entrenching low pay in Wales. Worse still, our labour market is effectively trapping a growing number of workers in entry level jobs which has the knock on effect of making secure work incredibly scarce for young people starting out in the workforce.”

William Graham, Shadow Assembly Minister for Business, said: “These figures confirm that after 15 years of successive Labour governments, Wales remains amongst the very poorest nations and regions of the UK. These statistics underline the persistent weaknesses in the Welsh economy and the need for Labour ministers to begin taking steps to secure growth in the Welsh economy by encouraging entrepreneurship, attracting inward investment and creating a business friendly culture in which enterprise can prosper and create jobs.

“It is disappointing that Labour Ministers didn’t do more to tackle the root causes of poverty and deprivation during the years of plenty prior to the economic crash and resulting austerity. Ill-health, poorer educational outcomes and substandard housing are the painful reality of low pay for some deprived communities.

“The Welsh Labour Government must act now to tackle the root causes of poverty by creating an entrepreneurial and competitive economy to make Wales a more prosperous country.”

Labour Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls said: “Out-of-touch ministers claim the economy is fixed, but these figures show wages continuing to fall. Average earnings fell by 1.6% in real terms last year – a bigger fall than in the previous two years.

“Working people are worse off under David Cameron’s government and millions face a further hit if the Tories win the election. David Cameron and George Osborne have promised to cut tax credits again while keeping a £3bn a year tax cut for the top one per cent of earners.

“We need a recovery for the many, not just a few at the top. Labour’s economic plan will tackle the cost-of-living crisis and earn our way to higher living standards for all. Our plan will raise the minimum wage, boost apprenticeships, get 200,000 new homes built a year and expand free childcare for working parents.

“And we will balance the books in the next Parliament, but do so in a fairer way – starting by reversing David Cameron’s tax cut for millionaires.”

Arfon Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams said: “Plaid Cymru’s commitment to a genuine Living Wage is vindicated by these dreadful figures. It is simply not right that employers pay so little that people in work are forced to claim tax credits just in order to get by from one week to the next.

“Plaid Cymru’s Living Wage would secure a pay rise for 250,000 Welsh workers and ensure that people have more money in their pockets to spend in their local economies. In the long term we must be investing in infrastructure projects in all corners of Wales in order to create jobs and generate growth of a sustainable kind, not the destructive boom-and-bust economics favoured by the Tories and Labour alike.”

A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Recent economic indicators, such as the highest number of inward investment projects recorded for Wales in 30 years, show the Welsh economy is improving. However we recognise the need to close the historic wage gap between Wales and the rest of the UK.

“Through support for our target sectors and attracting inward investment with initiatives such as this week’s UK Investment Summit Wales at Newport, we are working to deliver more well-paid jobs for the Welsh economy.”

Median full-time gross weekly earnings by region

Northern Ireland 457.2

Wales 473.4

East Midlands 477.2

West Midlands 479.1

Yorkshire and The Humber 479.1

North East 479.1

North West 482.5

South West 485.0

East 505.8

Scotland 519.4

South East 541.4

London 660.5

United Kingdom 518.0

Median Weekly Pay for Full-Time Jobs by Local Authority Area in Wales (£)

Wales 473.4 (+0.6%)

Anglesey 489.0 (+8.6%)

Gwynedd 421.9 (+2.3%)

Conwy 458.4 (+3.4%)

Denbighshire 499.4 (+4.2%)

Flintshire 527.8 (-1.5%)

Wrexham 438.9 (-7.4%)

Powys 414.8 (+0.3%)

Ceredigion 438.8 (+2.3%)

Pembrokeshire 449.8 (-5.0%)

Carmarthenshire 461.5 (+0.4)

Swansea 466.0 (+6.2%)

Neath Port Talbot 512.9 (-2.9%)

Bridgend 510.5 (5.5%)

Vale of Glamorgan 456.1 (-1.3%)

Cardiff 499.7 (-3.6%)

Rhondda Cynon Taf 476.4 (+1.5%)

Merthyr Tydfil 403.1 (-3.0%)

Caerphilly 462.1 (+2.7%)

Blaenau Gwent 436.2 (+6.5%)

Torfaen 449.3 (-1.5%)

Monmouthshire 466.0 (+9.1%)

Newport 470.0 (-2.8%)