It’s not right so many West Midlands workers struggle to feed their families, says TUC
It’s not right so many West Midlands workers struggle to feed their families, says TUC
Commenting on today’s (Monday) Living Wage Foundation figures which show that there are 486,000 workers in the West Midlands earning under the real Living Wage.
TUC Midlands Regional Secretary Lee Barron said:
“People who work for a living ought to earn a decent living. It’s not right that so many people here in the West Midlands don’t earn enough to cover basic living costs like food for their families or money for rent and bills.
“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, including here in the West Midlands.”
Nationally, the Foundation revealed that over 5.5 million workers are living below the real Living Wage.
|
No of employee jobs below Living Wage (000s) |
Proportion of employee jobs below Living Wage |
||||||||
|
All employees |
Employee jobs (000s) |
Media wage |
Mean wage |
April 2020 |
April 2019 |
19-20 change |
April 2020 |
April 2019 |
19-20 change |
|
North East |
889 |
£12.31 |
£15.53 |
210 |
227 |
-17 |
22.5% |
22.4% |
+0.1 |
|
North West |
2,681 |
£12.90 |
£16.33 |
602 |
626 |
-24 |
21.4% |
21% |
+0.4 |
|
Yorkshire & the Humber |
2,064 |
£12.45 |
£15.70 |
493 |
487 |
+6 |
22.8% |
21.9% |
+0.9 |
|
East Midlands |
1,741 |
£12.60 |
£15.89 |
423 |
430 |
-7 |
23.1 |
22.7 |
+0.4 |
|
West Midlands |
2,117 |
£12.84 |
£16.30 |
486 |
486 |
0 |
21.9% |
21.7% |
+0.2 |
|
East |
2,331 |
£13.29 |
£16.75 |
478 |
470 |
+8 |
19.7% |
18.8% |
+0.9 |
|
London |
3,825 |
£18.34 |
£23.89 |
780 |
838 |
-58 |
19.5% |
19.7% |
-0.2 |
|
South East |
3,948 |
£14.37 |
£17.90 |
682 |
603 |
+79 |
16.6% |
15.8% |
+0.8 |
|
South West |
2,165 |
£12.66 |
£15.85 |
492 |
479 |
+13 |
21.8% |
20.3% |
+1.5% |
|
Wales |
1,125 |
£12.42 |
£15.22 |
265 |
268 |
-3 |
22.4% |
22.5% |
-0.1% |
|
Scotland |
2,184 |
£14.07 |
£17.18 |
350 |
398 |
-48 |
15.2% |
16.8% |
-1.6% |
|
Northern Ireland |
949 |
£11.98 |
£14.90 |
25.4 |
229 |
+25 |
25.3% |
25.1% |
+0.2% |
|
UK |
26,019 |
£13.68 |
£17.57 |
5,515 |
5,540 |
-25 |
20.3% |
20.0% |
+0.3% |
Source: Living Wage Foundation analysis of ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings
- The Trades Union Congress (TUC) exists to make the working world a better place for everyone. We bring together more than 5.5 million working people who make up our 48 member unions. We support unions to grow and thrive, and we stand up for everyone who works for a living.
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