Member Article

Adzuna's co-founder Andrew Hunter responds to this year's ONS ASHE findings

The marginal wage increases in the year to April 2014 have been completely subsumed by inflation, as employers focus on building their workforces back up rather than retaining existing employees who are seeing their pay stagnate. The average worker is still putting in fewer hours than before the recession – a hangover from the crash when fewer tasks were shared around the workforce – and this is one of the factors holding back productivity. Wages in both Hospitality & Catering and Retail, in particular, have fallen.

But since the Summer, the labour market has kicked up a gear, with booms in manufacturing and IT triggering the beginnings of salary-growth. The gender pay gap is also beginning to close, with wages for women increasing at a slightly faster rate than for men.

Breaking into the workforce is still a challenge, and many young workers are still stuck in low paid positions. The proportion of young adults under 20 earning less than the minimum wage far outnumbers the proportion aged 21 or over. Northern Ireland and the North East are home to a far greater proportion of below-minimum-wage jobs than the capital and home-counties. Advertised salaries in both regions are increasing quickly, but there are still many pockets that are slow to pick-up, areas like Sunderland and Belfast.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Andrew Hunter .