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GMB study show 800,000 workers in London paid less than £10 per hour

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Over 800,000 workers in London paid less than £10 per hour should vote for Labour promise of higher living wage for a pay rise

National Minimum Wage should be raised to £10 per hour to provide workers with an adequate level of income from a full-time job to enable them to pay the bills and to have a reasonable standard of living says GMB London

GMB calls on the 806,000 workers in London earning less than £10 per hour to vote for Labour’s promise to raise the minimum wage to the level of the Living Wage, expected to be £10 per hour by 2020.

A GMB study released today shows that there are over 9.3m jobs in the United Kingdom that pay under £10 per hour. In London there are 806,000 jobs paying under £10 per hour.
 
The area in the region with the largest number of jobs paying under £10 per hour is Brent with 46,200. Next is Newham with 43,600, Ealing with 41,100, Croydon with 38,300 and Barnet with 34,500.

Set out in the table below are the number of jobs in London by borough paying under £10 per hour. See notes to editors for sources and definitions.

 

   

Number of jobs under £10 per hour

 

United Kingdom

9,351,600

 

London

806,000

     

1

Brent

46,200

2

Newham

43,600

3

Ealing

41,100

4

Croydon

38,300

5

Barnet

34,500

6

Enfield

34,300

7

Hounslow

32,000

8

Lambeth

31,900

9

Lewisham

30,500

10

Hillingdon

30,500

11

Waltham Forest

29,600

12

Haringey

29,200

13

Southwark

29,200

14

Tower Hamlets

27,400

15

Hackney

26,300

16

Bromley

26,300

17

Bexley

25,500

18

Harrow

23,600

19

Havering

23,300

20

Greenwich

23,100

21

Redbridge

22,400

22

Barking and Dagenham

22,200

23

Wandsworth

19,700

24

Merton

19,200

25

Sutton

19,000

26

Kingston upon Thames

14,700

27

Camden

14,200

28

Islington

14,000

29

Westminster

13,100

30

Hammersmith and Fulham

10,500

31

Richmond upon Thames

9,800

32

Kensington and Chelsea

8,000

     
 

City of London

##

 

Warren Kenny, GMB London region secretary, said

“It has been GMB congress policy since 2014 that the National Minimum Wage should be raised to £10 per hour to provide workers with an adequate level of income from a full-time job to enable them to pay the bills and to have a reasonable standard of living.

“The current system of having tax credits to subsidise employers paying low wages is very costly to tax payers and in the long run it is not necessary. Employers should be encouraged to develop effective systems of work and to improve productivity to enable them to pay a minimum of £10 per hour without subsidies from the tax payer.

“The Labour Party election manifesto pledges to raise the minimum wage to the level of the Living Wage for all workers aged 18 or over so that work pays.

“GMB call on the electorate in London to support this policy which will be good for the long term future of the UK economy.”

ENDS

Contact: Gary Doolan on 07590 262 504; Tony Warr 07710 631336; Richard O'Leary 07710 631347; Dave Powell 07710 631349; Shaun Graham 07885 706556 or Keith Williams 07710 631339

Notes to Editors

1) The Labour Party manifesto page 47

Raise the Minimum Wage to the level of the Living Wage (expected to be at least £10 per hour by 2020) – for all workers aged 18 or over, so that work pays.

2) Earnings data is from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2016, Office for National Statistics. Data is for hourly pay for all employees by place of residence excluding overtime. The number earning under £10 per hour has been calculated by using the median percentile figures.