TUC warns of low-paid jobs recovery for women

Green Politics

Last year's jobs recovery meant an entry into low-paid, part-time work for many women

 

The TUC have warned today that behind the net growth in female employment in 2014 there is an increase in the number of women in low-paid jobs.

Analysis published ahead of the TUC’s annual Women’s Conference shows that while full-time employment accounted for all of the net growth in male employment last year, it accounted for just 47 per cent of net female jobs growth.

According to the TUC, women moving into part-time jobs in 2014 were typically on much lower pay rates than women moving into full time work. Over four-fifths of the net growth in women’s part-time employment last year was in jobs like clerical, caring and cleaning work.

The average hourly pay for women working part-time in administrative and clerical occupations in 2014 was £9.34 an hour, and for those working part-time in caring or cleaning it was just £8.12 and £6.70 an hour respectively.

Last week, Price Waterhouse Coopers revealed that the UK has the third lowest proportion if women in full-time work out of all 27 OECD countries.

The TUC’s analysis also shows that four in 10 new female full-time jobs were in ‘predominantly low-paid occupations’, and the TUC highlight the lack of well paid jobs for women who do not work full-time. They say that since the recession there has been a significant increase in the number of women moving into part-time jobs because they could not find full-time employment.

There are 300,000 more women working part-time who would like full-time employment than there was at the end of 2007. The number of involuntarily part-time workers has now begun to fall, but it is doing so at a much faster rate for men (-11.5 per cent) than for women (-5.5 per cent) in 2014.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“There is a big divide between women working full-time and those working part-time and far too many new jobs are in low-paid sectors. 

“A large number of part-time women are moving in to sectors like social care and cleaning where wages are low and contracts are often insecure.

“Unless we create better-paid part-time and flexible work opportunities, far too few women will see any real benefit from the recovery.”

Ruby Stockham is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow her on Twitter

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2 Responses to “TUC warns of low-paid jobs recovery for women”

  1. littleoddsandpieces

    Low pay can also mean work does not pay,
    as the National Insurance scheme has the futile fact that there is a lower entitlement level (LEL) where wages are too low for
    automatic NI credits and so take women out of the welfare state.

    And such women under LEL are not accruing NI credits towards a state pension, which is, for huge numbers, their only pension provision in life.

    When the flat rate pension from 2016, requires 35 years of full NI history.

    Plus 35 years of being within the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme that became the State Second Pension in 2002.

    Yet SERPs / S2P is abolished for any new contributions from 2016.

    Half the over 50s / early 60s are within the working poor.

    Under Universal Credit (that will replace most in-work benefit),
    part time workers will lose benefit for not pursuing full time hours, which will also include housing benefit absorbed inside UC.

    97 per cent of the benefits bill is the working poor and poor pensioners (who often time are the same people).

    The state pension is payable even if remain in work.

    Pension Credit is affected by Universal Credit after 2016-2017, after the savings part of Pension Credit is abolished by the flat rate pension from 6 April 2016.

    Low waged women who hit 60 in 2013,
    lost state pension payout til 66 (so payout not til 2019 onwards) and then the Pension Bill 2014 (flat rate pension 2016)
    may indeed have left them with NIL STATE PENSION FOR LIFE.

    As have many women with a retirement age from 2016-2018.

    See if you lose all or most of your state pension,
    under my petition, in my WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT section, at:

    https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/state-pension-at-60-now

    The big parties offer little hope for the low waged, and women in particular,
    but there is a unique opportunity to get new MPs
    who will be key in a government
    that will require partners from lots more parties than has been the norm in parliament.

    See how at:

    http://www.anastasia-england.me.uk

  2. Guest

    Hamas blocks welfare payments for many entirely, so I don’t see how linking a site supporting them helps.

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