Just under two-thirds of British workers say they are not paid enough for the work they do, according to research released by disability insurer Unum.
Out of the 3,264 employees that took part in the research, published in August, 65% believe their salaries are not high enough and only 2% think they are actually overpaid. On average, workers believe that they are underpaid by £5,250 per year.
Both 65% of men and women feel they don’t earn enough money, however, on average, female employees want less of an increase, believing they should be paid an extra £4,495 a year, compared to the £5,706 male workers think they deserve.
Linton Penman, head of retail marketing at Unum, said: “If people feel underpaid now, imagine how difficult life would be should they not be able to work for a while due to illness or injury.”
Workers in the north of England (67%) and Wales and South West (67%) are most likely to consider themselves underpaid, while Scotland (63%) and the South East (63%) have the lowest proportions of employees who are dissatisfied with their pay packets.
The findings also show that people aged between 35 and 44 years believe they are the most hard done by, missing out on an average of £5,882 a year. Employees over the age of 65 years are the most satisfied with the size of their pay packets.