Part-time poverty

Earning below the living wage is the norm for part-time women workers in more than 130 parliamentary constituencies, according to new research carried out by the TUC to mark Part-time Equal Pay Day.

In some parts of the UK more than three out of four women working part-time earn less than the Living Wage.

In the Welsh constituency of Dwyfor Meirionnydd, for example, nearly eight in ten (79.0 per cent) women working part-time earn less than the Living Wage.

Birmingham Northfield has the next highest proportion of low-paid, part-time women workers where over three-quarters (76.8 per cent) earn less than the Living Wage, followed by Mid Ulster in Northern Ireland (74.2 per cent).

And those who think the wealthy allow their money to ‘trickle down’ to the poorest are in for a wake-up call. In Chelsea and Fulham, home to some of the richest areas in the UK, most women working part-time earn less than the London Living Wage.

In London there are 17 parliamentary constituencies where most women working part-time earn less than the London Living Wage. London has a higher Living Wage – currently £9.15 an hour, compared to £7.85 an hour across the rest of the country – because of the greater cost of living in the capital.

Siobhan Endean, Unite National Officer for Equalities told Unite Live, “It is a disgrace that poverty pay persists as a feature of the UK labour market. The TUC figures demonstrate that women who work part time are most likely to be trapped in low paid work with few opportunities to escape poverty pay.

“Joining your union and organising your work place to tackle low paying employers is the best way to address the appalling undervaluing of women’s part time wages. But we also need action to ensure employers are transparent about the gender pay gap.”

The TUC is concerned that many working women still remain trapped in in-work poverty. The TUC says that, even though the Chancellor has introduced a minimum wage premium for over 25’s, it is still well below the Living Wage and will be undermined by his new cuts to tax credits.

If more employers paid the Living Wage it could make major inroads into defeating poverty pay, say the TUC. This would help tackle the growing scourge of in-work poverty and make big inroads into closing the scandalous 33 per cent ‘part-time pay penalty.’

The 33 per cent ‘penalty’ is because part-time women workers earn just 67p for every pound earned by men working full-time. One of the main reasons for this for this huge gender pay divide is the large concentration of women doing low-paid, part-time work, says the TUC.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said, “Working part-time shouldn’t mean poverty pay, but for millions of women that is the reality. The Living Wage was created to provide workers with a basic standard of living.

“However, many part-time women earn well below this each hour and now face being hit by the Chancellor’s cuts to tax credits which will wipe out any gains from his new minimum wage premium.

“Our labour market is failing to deliver for women across the UK. Those looking to work part-time or on a flexible basis are too often restricted to low-level and low-paid positions that do not make the most of their skills. Lots are forced to trade down when they start a family.

“If we don’t create better opportunities and increase wages for part-time staff then women will continue to bear the brunt of in-work poverty.

“We need a recovery that works for everyone.”