209,000 jobs pay less than minimum wage

Pay bonuses-2015Some 209,000 UK job roles held by employees aged 16 and over in April 2015 paid staff less than the national minimum wage, according to research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Its Low pay, April 2015 survey also found that 115,000 of the jobs are held by full-time employees and 94,000 by part-time staff.

Together, this represents less than 1% of UK jobs. In April 2014, 222,000 job roles paid staff less than the national minimum wage.

ONS’ Annual survey of hours and earnings, 2015 provisional results, found that median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees in April 2015 were £528, up from £518 in April 2014.

This survey also found:

  • Adjusted for inflation, weekly earnings increased by almost 2% compared to 2014, which is the first increase since 2008.
  • Median gross annual earnings for full-time employees were £27,600.
  • The gender pay gap for median earnings for full-time staff decreased to 9.4% from 9.6% in 2014.
  • The bottom 10% of full-time employees earned less than £297 a week, compared to over £1,035 for the top 10% of full-time staff.

Charles Cotton, pay and reward adviser at the Charted Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD), said: “These figures show the first real pay rise for six years, however this is more because of low inflation and not as a result of significant pay growth.

“The pressure to raise wages in the near-term remains subdued for many employers, as the rate of earnings growth continues to comfortably exceed inflation and because, outside a few sectors, skills shortages remain limited.”

“While there has been a small drop in the gender pay gap for full-time staff, the pay gap has changed little over the last four years.

“Top priority should be given to encouragement of more flexible working opportunities that make effective use of skills and provide opportunities for progression, this is what’s needed to stop the massive widening in the pay gap we see for women during their 30s.”