Minimum wage workers ‘trapped’

Workers earning the minimum wage feel trapped in low-paid work, with many turning to food banks, according to a survey conducted for the Unite general union.

The poll of over 2,000 workers earning £6.50 or less was conducted by the polling organisation Survation. Over 59% felt that they had the skills and experience to do better- paid work, but said that there was no such work available. Over 46% believed that their employer could afford to pay them more but chose not to.

The majority of those surveyed did not feel they had a good standard of living. Over 20% of respondents aged 34 or under said that their household had been forced to turn to food banks in the past year.

The vast majority of those polled thought that the minimum wage should be raised to “living wage” levels, and over half felt that the prime responsibility for tackling low pay lay with the government.

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner called on the government to act to raise the minimum wage to bring it up to living wage levels and slammed employers that paid poverty wages while making huge profits.

“Five million UK workers earn less than a living wage, consigned to an insecure income and increasingly shut out of the economy,” said Turner.

www.unitetheunion.org/news/first-ever-poll-of-minimum-wage-workers-confirms-poverty-pay-pricing-people-out-of-the-economy

http://survation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Minimum-Wage-Earners-Poll-Data-Tables.pdf