Proportion of UK staff on low pay at lowest degree since 1997

The proportion of UK staff on low pay has fallen to its lowest on file, though dwelling requirements for the common worker haven’t improved for the reason that 2008 monetary disaster, in line with official knowledge.

Complete figures on earnings printed by the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics on Wednesday confirmed that 10.5 per cent of worker jobs have been paid at an hourly charge under two-thirds of the median in April 2022, down from 14.3 per cent in 2021 and the bottom since information started in 1997.

The figures mirror the influence of sharp will increase within the UK’s statutory minimal wage since 2016, when the federal government set a goal for it to succeed in 60 per cent of median earnings by 2020. That purpose was reframed in 2019, with plans to boost the wage flooring to two-thirds of median earnings by 2024.

In addition to the focus of staff paid inside 20p of the statutory minimal of £9.50 an hour, the ONS mentioned extra employers had chosen to set hourly pay at £10. One other grouping — seen for the primary time this yr — have been setting it at £11.

This might mirror rising uptake of the upper, voluntary dwelling wage set yearly by the Dwelling Wage Basis. The speed, which straight impacts about 400,000 folks whose employers are accredited by the charity, is more and more used as a benchmark by different large corporations.

It may be the results of rising competitors for workers in sectors similar to hospitality and logistics which have struggled to recruit following Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic.

Nye Cominetti, economist on the Decision Basis think-tank, mentioned the figures instructed pay progress had been strongest on the backside since 2019, casting doubt on newer administrative knowledge displaying prime earners forging forward within the post-pandemic restoration.

Nevertheless, in addition they affirm the general image of a labour market wherein common wages have now stagnated in actual phrases for nicely over a decade.

Median weekly pay of £640 for full-time staff was 5 per cent larger in nominal phrases than in April final yr. However the ONS warned that this annual progress charge was most likely flattered by comparability with a interval wherein many staff remained furloughed.

Even so, median earnings have been 2.6 per cent decrease than in 2021 after adjusting for inflation, with dwelling requirements falling again under their degree on the eve of the 2008 monetary disaster.

Cominetti famous that for some teams — together with males, and public sector staff — common hourly pay had fallen in actual phrases over the three-year interval since 2019.

Frances O’Grady, common secretary of the Trades Union Congress, the umbrella physique for the UK’s commerce union motion, mentioned this was a “shameful” indictment of a authorities that had presided over “the longest and harshest squeeze on earnings in fashionable historical past”.