ASHE data published today show median hourly pay across the economy to have fallen by 2.0 per cent in the year to April.
This is most remarkable because it shows starkly the nature of how the Covid public health crisis turned very quickly into a labour market and living standards crisis. Today’s earnings data show how earnings show real weekly earnings close to 2010 levels. Just as the Covid crisis began we were almost immediately a decade on the backfoot.
The data however also show that the burden of Covid in terms of earnings has not been shared equally across our workforce. Indeed, the data show very clearly the stark occupational and sectoral nature of the crisis. Low-paid workers were far more likely to be furloughed and so face a living standards squeeze than the rest of the workforce. For example, 64.3% of those employed in the lowest paid sector the Accommodation and Food sector were furloughed with 80% of their usual earnings. This compares to 25% across the whole workforce.
Dr Lisa Wilson commenting on the data says ‘Of course, in interpreting today’s data we have to remember how important the Job Retention Scheme was in shielding our labour market and protecting the living standards of workers right across our economy.
However, the data also show that our lowest paid were most likely to have been furloughed and face a squeeze on their living standards. This is worrying because these are workers who already often found it difficult to make ends meet. Going forward policy needs to do more to protect these workers to ensure that poverty is not the only future they face.’