Case for a living wage

The business case for a living wage in the UK is made in a new report from the Fair Pay Network, which says it is key to economic recovery.

Unfinished business: the quest for a living wage contains case studies of successful living wage campaigns including Manchester, Oxford and Glasgow, and contains a toolkit for unions and community organisations to boost current and future living wage campaigns.

The report shows that the UK labour market is defined by a high proportion of poorly paid, insecure, low status jobs. Approximately 5.3 million people — more than a fifth of all employees in Britain — fall below the low pay threshold, which is one of the highest rates in Europe. As a result the economy suffers from significant levels of wage inequality and people having to work long hours to meet their basic needs.

Low pay has a real impact on communities, according to the report. Nearly two-thirds (60%) of the three million children living in poverty live in households where at least one person is in paid employment, and poor children do less well in school, have reduced life chances and are more likely to be physically or mentally ill.

The report finds that since 1997, the poorest 10% of households have seen their weekly incomes fall by £9 a week. As real wages have fallen, the gap between what people earn and what they need has increasingly been filled by debt.

www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-18491-f0.cfm

www.fairpaynetwork.org/?page=about