Deeside: Latest figures reveal 71.4% of female part time workers earn below living wage rate

Nearly half of all full time female employees in Deeside are not earning enough money to provide properly for themselves and their families figures from the TUC reveal today.

Overall combined male, female fulltime and part time workers in the Deeside and Alyn constituency are earning equivalent to a living wage increasing slightly from 76.4% in 2013 to 76.6% in 2014 – the UK average is 78.3%

TUC analysis of official figures from the House of Commons Library sorted by parliamentary constituency highlights a very different picture for women in Alyn and Deeside.

There has been a 3% increase in the number of women in full time employment who are earning less than the living wage up to 45.1% – the second highest in Wales, where on average 28.6% are earning lower than the proposed living wages hourly rate of £7.65 

For those women with part times jobs in Deeside the situation is even more bleak, they are amongst the lowest paid in the whole of the UK with 71.4% earning less than the proposed living wage rate, the fifth worst paying constituency area in the UK behind Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Birmingham – Northfield, Mid Ulster and West Lancashire.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady, said:

“Extending the living wage is a vital step towards tackling the growing problem of in-work poverty across Britain.

Working families have experienced the biggest squeeze on their living standards since Victorian times, and these living wage figures show that women are disproportionately affected. Pay has been squeezed at all levels below the boardroom, and the government’s mantra about ‘making work pay’ is completely out of touch with reality.

The number of living wage employers is growing rapidly and unions are playing their part in encouraging more employers to sign up and pay it. But we need to see a far wider commitment to pay the living wage from government, employers and modern wages councils – to drive up productivity and set higher minimum rates in industries where employers can afford to pay their staff more.”