Waging war on low pay
The latest ONS figures announced last week showed that unemployment in the North East fell by 3,000 in the three months to December.
However, the figures are something of a double-edged sword for the North East. While it is always positive to see a drop in the unemployment rate, and to see that nationally there is a record number of women in work, it only highlights the disparities we are seeing in our region where there has been a 20% rise in female unemployment in the last 12 months – from 49,000 up to 59,000.
Last quarter, unemployment amongst the men in our region dropped by 6,000 but rose once again (by 3,000) among their female counterparts. The fact that this unfortunate north east trend is not reversing proves that women continue to be hit hardest and that the government still have a long way to go in addressing the widening gaps in our society, economy and policy. A real recovery must be universal not selective.
Youth and long-term unemployment have both fallen but there has been little change in the number of people classed as economically inactive, which has remained just under nine million.
The fall in the total number of unemployed masks the blight of under-employment, which is growing at an alarming rate across the country. There are 1.4 million people in part-time jobs because they cannot find full-time work, and despite a fall this figure is still 46,000 higher than a year ago.
Too many people are stuck in minimum-wage jobs, on zero-hours contracts and part-time work when they are desperate to go full-time.
Desperate because they need regular, secure employment to feed their families without having to resort to food banks, pay their bills without falling into the grip of payday lenders and decent pay to rebuild consumer confidence and grow the economy.
Growing the economy means giving more workers across the UK a boost to their earnings, a 1.1% rise on average earnings is simply not going to cut it.
The TUC continues to challenge political parties to introduce policies to reduce growing wage inequality; including a return to wages councils that could set legally enforced minimum wages in different sectors. They would involve union, employer and expert members, and could go significantly higher than the national minimum wage in sectors able to absorb the costs.
We need real action to boost wages for low to medium earners. The minimum wage must be made just that – with proper enforcement and real punishment for those who break its rules. It is also not unreasonable to expect it to increase above both wage and price inflation each year.
The power of public policy should be used to spread the living wage. It should be made a floor across the public sector, and we should use the power of procurement to extend the living wage (wherever possible) into those employers who wish to do business with, or receive aid from, the public sector.
Beth Farhat
Northern TUC Regional Secretary
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