Monday 5 November 2012

London Living Wage increased but 1 in 5 Londoners on poverty wages

Thanks to Brent BASIS for this:

New analysis funded by Trust for London shows that there has been a 100,000 increase in the number of London jobs paying below the London Living Wage (LLW) - taking the total to 580,000. This means that 1 in 5 Londoners working in the capital are now paid poverty wages.

This is despite a new piece of research by Queen Mary, University of London (commissioned by Trust for London) showing that paying the Living Wage has big benefits for business, workers and the Treasury.

The research is the first to provide data showing the Living Wage increases the happiness of workers; it shows:

  • Over half of employees (54%) felt more positive about their workplace once the LW was introduced and 52% felt more loyal.
  • Staff leaving rates fell by 25%.
  • Almost a third (32%) of workers felt it benefitted their family life by allowing them to do things like spend more time with family.
·         Almost 4 in 10 (38%) workers reported financial benefits such as being able to buy more goods and save more.

In addition companies interviewed said the reputational benefits of paying the LW helped them attract new business and customers. Employers also reported HR benefits at all levels with high calibre graduates at one employer citing paying the living wage as one of the top 3 reasons for applying as it demonstrates corporate social responsibility.

The Living Wage rate for workers in London is to increase by 25p an hour to £8.55, the capital's mayor has announced. Boris Johnson said the new rate will be worth £4.5 million a year for lower-paid workers. The Living Wage rate outside London will also rise by 25p to £7.45, benefiting thousands of workers.

1 comment:

trevor said...

should we be surprised that while MP'S take home more than they need to survive on
we take how barely enough to get through the day?
never forget what they did to us by means of the MP'S expenses system.
it is obvious that they consider themselves more important than the people they are meant to be serving.
they may try to convince us that they cannot afford to permit us to recieve decent wages in return for our hard work...but yet they can afford to pay themselves excessive wages and even while they were ripping us off with the mp's expenses system.
while our living standards sink lower and lower
there's gets higher because of course just as they needed an expenses system, we obviously don't need extra money of course.