British employees, including those working in Liverpool offices, are gradually beginning to earn more money, after the latest statistics revealed the number of low-paid jobs in the UK has dropped to the lowest levels since records began in 1997.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the proportion of these types of jobs on an hourly earnings basis fell to 16.2 per cent in 2019.
Indeed, the number of jobs where employees earned below the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and the National Living Wage (NLW) declined to 425,000 over the 12 months to April 2019. This was a drop of 18,000 from the year before, and coincides with the NMW and NLW rates increasing by 4.9 per cent between 2018 and 2019.
As of April 2019, the NMW for who are over the age of 25 was increased to £8.21 per hour. Employees between 21 and 24 had to earn a minimum of £7.70; those between the ages of 18 and 20 had to receive £6.15; workers under 18 were eligible for at least £4.35; and apprentices had to be given £3.90.
However, prior to this, the NMW for 25 year olds and older was £7.83 per hour between April 2018 and March 2019; £7.50 between April 2017 and March 2018; and £7.20 between April 2016 and March 2017.
This shows there was a significant jump of 38p per hour for employees older than 25 in the last year, which is likely to have contributed to the decline in low-paid jobs over this period.
Despite this, the figures also showed employees in the highest earning full-time jobs were being given nearly five times more per hour (not including overtime pay) than those in the lowest paid positions.
In 2019, full-time employees who were in the top five per cent of the highest paid jobs were typically paid £39.15 per hour in comparison with the lowest paid five per cent, who received £8.29 per hour. This shows the highest-paid employees typically earned 4.7 times the amount of those who took home the least pay.
While this sounds like a huge disparity, the pay gap is narrowing, as this figure was as high as 5.5 times in 2011.
For part-time employees, the pay differentiation is less, with the highest earners typically walking home with around four times more per hour than those in the lowest-paid positions. However, this has not changed much over the last five years, showing no improvement in the wage gap for part-time staff.
Analysis from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) compounded these figures, revealing that real pay for the top one per cent of earners increased by 7.6 per cent over the last two years. This represents the highest pay rise than any other income group during this period.
Indeed, those earning £63 per hour or more enjoyed a steep wage increase between 2016 and 2018, in comparison to typical employees who saw their pay slips rise by just 0.1 per cent during the 24 months.