92% OF WORKERS IN GLENROTHES EARN ABOVE NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE
Published date : 23 Nov 2018
SCOTS LEAST LIKELY TO BE ON MINIMUM WAGE
92% OF WORKERS IN GLENROTHES EARN ABOVE NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE
Jenny Gilruth, the MSP for Glenrothes has welcomed news that 92% of workers in Glenrothes earn above the national minimum wage – with Scots the least likely to be on minimum wage jobs in the UK.
New UK Government analysis, taken from the Annual Survey of Hours & Earnings 2018, shows that 94% of Scots workers earn above the National Minimum or National Living Wage – while 7% of workers in England, and 11% in Northern Ireland, remain on the obligatory pay.
But Jenny Gilruth MSP has claimed the UK Government are not doing enough to support low income workers, renewing calls to raise the National Living Wage to the level of the Real Living Wage.
The move would mean all workers would earn more than £10 an hour by 2022.
Although the powers to set the minimum wage remain reserved to Westminster, the Scottish Government has taken steps to ensure that over 1000 employers now pay a Real Living Wage in Scotland. 81.6% of Scottish workers earn the Real Living Wage, the highest rate in the UK.
Commenting, MSP Jenny Gilruth said:
“It’s pleasing to see that 92% of workers in Glenrothes earn above UK Government’s National Minimum or National Living Wage.
“However, the UK Government is failing low income workers by refusing to raise the minimum wage to the independently calculated Real Living Wage.
“Families here in Glenrothes and across Scotland are struggling to get by on incomes that have been squeezed by years of damaging Tory austerity.
“The Scottish Government have been working hard to promote a Real Living Wage in Scotland, with over 1000 employers in Scotland now committed to paying their staff a fair wage.
“If the UK government are not prepared to act on this, powers should be immediately devolved to Holyrood so this Scottish Government can introduce a Real Living Wage for all workers in Scotland.”
ENDS
Local Reporters, East Fife Mail, Glenrothes Gazette, Courier (Fife), RESERVED
