Working people in every region of the UK are significantly worse of in real terms since 2010, according to figures from the Labour Party.
Working people in every region of the UK are significantly worse of in real terms since 2010, according to figures from the Labour Party.
London, Yorkshire and the Humber, the North West, Wales and the East of England have seen the biggest falls.
The figures come ahead of an opposition day debate on living standards, economic growth and the deficit in which Labour will say that the government has failed to meet the goals it set in 2010.
Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the treasury Chris Leslie said that “far from delivering rising living standards, working people are now over £1600 a year worse off under this government”.
“Instead of securing the recovery in 2010 we’ve had three damaging years of flatlining. And we’ll need 1.5 per cent growth every quarter between now and the election simply to catch up all the lost ground since 2010,” he added.
The below table shows the change in real average earnings in each region and nation of the UK between 2010 and 2012
| Region/nation | Weekly change (£) | Annual change (£) | % change |
| London |
-£42.30 |
-£2,200 |
-7.5 |
| Yorkshire & The Humber |
-£33.10 |
-£1,721 |
-8.1 |
| North West |
-£32.40 |
-£1,685 |
-7.8 |
| Wales |
-£32.10 |
-£1,669 |
-8.0 |
| East |
-£32.10 |
-£1,669 |
-7.0 |
| South West |
-£32.00 |
-£1,664 |
-7.8 |
| West Midlands |
-£29.80 |
-£1,550 |
-7.2 |
| Scotland |
-£27.30 |
-£1,420 |
-6.4 |
| East Midlands |
-£27.00 |
-£1,404 |
-6.5 |
| South East |
-£26.30 |
-£1,368 |
-5.5 |
| North East |
-£23.10 |
-£1,201 |
-5.8 |
| Northern Ireland |
-£18.50 |
-£962 |
-4.8 |
14 Responses to “Coalition sees average earnings fall in every part of the UK”
Cole
Gosh, they’ve got up to 150,000. Not much compared to, say, the 500,000 who protected about the NHS bill.
Simon Robinson
Do the figures include bankers – because if it does – that suggests the under lying figures are a lot worse for most people!
throbb007
Immigration is not the problem, it is people taking advantage of low wages and workers’ rights that is the problem. Migrant workers are often placed with an agency who will sort out work, housing and transport (at a cost to the worker), industry then uses these agencies who will provide workers for just a few hours at a moments notice.
The agencies will not pick the 20 year old man living at home with mum and dad over a migrant worker as they will not profit twice. The agency will take their fees from the employer and travel / rent from the worker.
The majority of inexperienced and lesser skilled workers have to compete with this and can’t, not because of immigrant workers but because of morally feckless employers who no longer have to directly employ their workforce therefore not taking any responsibility for health, safety or long term welfare. They treat workers as a commodity supplied on demand by agencies are more interested in how much profit they can make from one minimum wage job rather than treating any of their clients with the dignity that should come from working for a living.
All the time we are pointing the finger at immigration as the cause of the problem we will never find the solution -ie wages that pay enough to house and feed a family and workers rights which give stability to less -skilled and lower paid workers.
tangentreality
Not really that simple, though, is it? It was a combination of reckless lending and a fundamental failure of the organs of state, namely the Bank of England, the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority, to spot the systemic risks that were developing. So blaming the Tory Party is hardly accurate. It was a failure on behalf of the bankers, and those charged with their supervision.
It is interesting to note that the failed regulatory system was put in place by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, introduced to Parliament by Gordon Brown, then Chancellor of the Exchequer. No small amount of the blame falls squarely at his feet, and by extension, the Labour Party’s.
TM
Greed is the problem, and that will never go. But some governments legislate against it and some governments encourage it. Now people are being cast to the 4 winds and in the end it may affect us all. We have a growing economic apartheid in the UK that must be tackled. Why isn’t the Left talking about that specifically?