Nearly a third of jobs in Kirklees are paying less than the living wage.
There were an estimated 41,000 jobs in the area paying less than the Out of London Living Wage in 2014, or 32.4% of all jobs, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
The living wage in April 2014 was £8.80 an hour in London and £7.65 an hour outside London.
In Calderdale, it was 16,000 jobs, making up 20.5% of all jobs.
In 2014, there were 5.7 million employee jobs paid less than the living wage in the UK. Over half of these were part-time jobs.
Between April 2008 and April 2010, the proportion of jobs paid less than the living wage in London was stable at around 13%, but it had risen to 19% by April 2014.
For the rest of the UK, where only three years of estimates are available, the proportion of employee jobs paid less than the living wage rose from 21% in April 2012 to 23% in April 2014.
Who is paid less than the Living Wage?
18%
Males across UK paid less than LW
29%
Females across UK paid less than LW
58%
18-24-year-old not paid LW
In accommodation and food services in 2014, there were an estimated 65% of employee jobs paid less than the living wage in London and 70% in the rest of the UK. In retail in 2014, there were an estimated 55% of employee jobs paid less than the living wage in London and 59% in the rest of the UK.
In 2014, around 60% of employee jobs in sales and customer service occupations and 60 to 70% of those in elementary occupations paid less than the living wage.
The places with the lowest proportions of jobs paid less than the living wage were the South East of England, London and Scotland (all 19%). Northern Ireland had the highest proportion of jobs below the living wage (29%).
What is the Living Wage?
The concept of a ‘living wage’ designed to cover the basic cost of living for UK employees is promoted by the Living Wage Foundation (LWF) and, for the capital, by the Mayor of London. Their aim is to persuade employers to sign up voluntarily to paying a living wage to all employees aged 18 and over who are not apprentices, interns or trainees.
There are separate living wage rates for London and the rest of the UK, known as the London Living Wage (LLW), which is currently £9.15 per hour, and the Out of London Living Wage (OLLW), £7.85 per hour, respectively. Therefore the analysis in this article is of jobs below the LLW for London and below the OLLW outside London.
In his Summer Budget of July 8, 2015, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a new National Living Wage (NLW), described as a “new premium on top of the NMW” (National Minimum Wage)1.
The NLW will be set in relation to median earnings rather than the cost of living and is for employees aged 25 and over.
Employers will be required to pay the NLW from April 2016. At present it is not possible to present estimates of jobs below the NLW because data for April 2016 will not be available until later that year.
The estimates are for jobs of employees aged 18 and over, excluding those on youth, training and apprentice rates, most of whom would not be entitled to the living wage.
