New ONS research shows Britain needs living wages, says TUC

Commenting on a new analysis of earnings growth over the last 40 years, published today (Thursday) by the Office for National Statistics, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“The last 40 years show a picture of growing wage inequality. The more you earn, the faster your pay goes up, while the less you earn the slower it goes up. The minimum wage has bucked this trend for the very poorest, but we need to go further.

“A short term fall in inequality from the financial crisis hitting top earners is not the lasting change we need. Now the economy is growing again, the priority must be a pay rise for Britain’s workers. It’s time to build on the minimum wage and bring in living wages to end the injustice of in work poverty.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- The ONS release is ‘UK Wages Over the Past Four Decades, 2014’

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lmac/uk-wages-over-the-past-four-decades/2014/rep---uk-wages-over-the-past-four-decades.html

- This autumn the TUC is organising a mass demonstration in London under the banner of ‘Britain Needs a Pay Rise’. It will take place on Saturday 18 October 2014, and will begin with a march through central London, culminating in a rally in Hyde Park.

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