Whether you’re a permanent employee or a contract worker, you likely think you should be paid more – and the truth may be you’re not getting paid enough indeed.
Or at least that’s what the Trades Union Congress is positing in a recently released report. The TUC’s new research study – released just in time for the two-week Fair Pay Fortnight that runs until 6 April – found that there is some serious wage inequality affecting Brits, with Londoners being the worst off by a fair margin.
On a national level, pay inequality stood at 4.5 per cent in the UK. Meanwhile the average for a worker in London was nearly twice that at 8.5 per cent – a serious jump that the TUC says needs to be addressed. Not only that but over the 13 year period that the study examined, the pay gap increased by a worrying 14 per cent between the top tenth and the bottom tenth of British earners.
The capital wasn’t the only region that saw some big losers when it came to pay inequality, though. The East Midlands came in at 5 per cent, 0.5 percentage points over the national average, whilst the West Midlands saw a 7 per cent increase as well. Wales and the South-West were the only regions to actually see inequality shrink over this period of time.
So what do these figures mean in a real-world sense besides the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer? Well for what it’s worth it means that the economic recovery in the UK simply isn’t benefiting the country as a whole but only those earning top wages. In other words, it’s fantastic if you’re the chief executive of a High Street bank but if you’re a freelancer or an umbrella company contractor – or wore yet, a lowly member of that same High Street bank’s branch staff – you’re not going to be very likely to benefit from increased revenues and profits any time soon. It’s a serious problem, and one that could only get worse if this continues without respite over the next few years.
The worst part of this is that the slow yet inexorable increase in the pay gap is so stealthy that many Brits don’t even realise it until it’s too late. Suddenly they look at their pay packets and the realisation dawns upon them that they don’t make enough to pay the mortgage any more, yet their bosses and supervisors are motoring about in Jaguars and Alfa Romeos. It’s bloody frustrating if you ask me!
