WORKERS in Kirklees are lagging behind in the pay stakes, a union survey has revealed.

Figures from general union the GMB showed average annual earnings for full-time employees in the district total £25,879.

That compares with a UK average salary of £29,999 and a Yorkshire average of £26,112.

It means workers in Kirklees get 86% of the average national salary.

Kirklees is seventh in a list ranking 15 local authority areas across Yorkshire according to average pay.

The highest average salary is paid in York, where the figure stands at £29,751, followed by Leeds (£27,147), Rotherham (£26,588) and Sheffield (£26,420).

The lowest figure is Doncaster with an average salary of £24,318.

A breakdown of UK regions shows that average pay in London stands at £45,274, followed by the south-east (£31,462), eastern England (£31,462) and the north-west (£27,297).

Yorkshire is ninth in the list of 12 UK regions.

The north-east is last in the list, with average pay of £24,318.

Tim Roache, GMB regional secretary for Yorkshire, said: “This analysis shows that parts of the region have not yet managed to replace the well-paid, highly-skilled manufacturing jobs that were lost or develop new well-paid highly skilled service jobs.

“In order to climb the pay league, each area in the region has to be able to make effective use of its principal resource – human talent.

“This is the yardstick to measure economic and industrial policy that is put forward by policymakers in the region.”