It’s not right that so many workers in London, East & South East struggle to feed their families, says TUC

Commenting on today’s (Monday) Living Wage Foundation figures, which show that

• 682,000 employees (16.6% of employees) in the South East,  
• 478,000 employees (19.7% of employees) in East England
• 780,000 employees (19.5% of employees) in London

earn under the real Living Wage. Sam Gurney, TUC Regional Secretary for the South East of England, said: 

“People who work for a living ought to earn a decent living.

"It’s not right that so many workers here in London, East & South East don’t earn enough to cover basic living costs and struggle to feed their families.

“And many of those struggling to get by will be the key workers getting us through this crisis – such as carers, supermarket staff and delivery drivers. 

“The prime minister promised to ‘level up’ Britain. Ministers must start by working with unions to ‘level up’ pay and conditions across the country.

“Chronic low pay is a common feature of the UK economy and London, East & South East are not immune from the curse of poverty pay.”

The analysis also found that in total there are 5.5 million employees nationwide – one fifth of UK employees – earning under the real Living Wage.