GMB welcome news of rising wages in London but says there is still a long way to go

Living Wage

GMB welcome news of earnings rising by 2.9% in three months to march as earnings in London need to increase by 15.2% to catch up with 2007

News that wages have risen is welcome but there is still a very long way to go to make up the ground lost due to the recession in 2008 and inflation since then, says GMB London

GMB London have welcomed new statistics from the Office of National Statistics, which shows wages rising at an annual rate of 2.9% in the three months to March, faster than the 2.7 % inflation, but cautioned that there was a very long way to go before earnings in London recover from the drop of 15.2% compared to earnings in 2007.

A study of official data by the GMB from January 2018 showed that in London, full-time workers mean gross annual pay in 2017 was just 84.6% of what it was in 2007. In 2007 the mean gross annual pay of full-time workers was £42,226. In 2017 that figure was £47,089, which when you factor in inflation at 31.7%, saw a decrease in pay of 15.4%.

Over the same period the decrease in earnings in the United Kingdom was 10.4%. In 2007 full-time workers mean gross annual pay in the UK was £30,015. By 2017 the figure was £35,423. After inflation, this is just 89.6% of what workers were earning in 2007

The full-time workers gross annual pay in Hillingdon in 2017 was just 75.2% of what it was in 2007. This was the biggest decrease in the London region. It was followed by Hammersmith and Fulham at 78%, followed by Sutton 79.5%, Westminster 79.6%, Southwark 80.2%, Islington 81.3%, Tower Hamlets 81.4%, Ealing 81.9%, Harrow 85.3%, Havering 86.6%, 87.7%, Camden 87.7%, and Enfield 88.2%. Lewisham and Richmond upon Thames were the only boroughs that saw earnings increase over the 10-year period.

The figures covering 33 London councils are set out in the table below, ranked by the highest percentage drop since 2007. This is from a new study by GMB London Region of official data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) for 33 councils in London. It compares full-time workers mean gross annual pay in 2007 and 2017, followed by 2017 earnings as a percentage of 2007 earnings after inflation. [See notes to editors for sources and definitions.]

# These figures are suppressed as statistically unreliable.

Results for 2003 and earlier exclude supplementary surveys. In 2006 there were a number of methodological changes made. For further details go to: http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/articles/341.aspx.

Estimates for 2011 and subsequent years use a weighting scheme based on occupations which have been coded according to Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) 2010 that replaced SOC 2000. Therefore care should be taken when making comparisons with earlier years.

Warren Kenny GMB Regional Secretary said:

"GMB welcome this news that wages have risen but there is still a very long way to go to make up the ground lost due to the recession in 2008 and inflation since then.

“Earlier this year GMB showed that across London as a whole the real value of average wages for workers resident in the region in 2017 was only 84.6% of the buying power they had in 2007 when inflation is factored in. Indeed residents in 8 of the 29 London boroughs that we received data from, fared much worse than this with residents in some areas very badly hit.

“Two conclusions can be drawn from the study. The first is that the impact on the living standards of ordinary workers of the bankers recession in 2008 onwards is still with us a decade later. Not a single person has been punished by a prison sentence for the recklessness and law breaking that has had catastrophic consequences as these figures show. The Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers show that tax evasion and tax avoidance are still going ahead undealt with on an industrial scale. 

“The second conclusion is that ordinary workers require substantial pay increases to make up the lost ground. These increases are needed to boost spending power to keep economic growth on track."

ENDS

Contacts: Keith Williams 07710 631 339 or Tony Warr 07710 631 336 or GMB London Press Office 07970 114 762

Notes to Editors:

1] Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics, Crown Copyright Reserved

2] The figures are annual Mean salary for all Full-time employees, residential based

3] ASHE is based on a 1% sample of employee jobs, drawn from HM Revenue and Customs Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records.

4] Inflation rate between April 2007 and April 2017 was 31.74%.