Over 800,000 key works paid less than living wage, study finds
Hundreds of thousands of key workers struggled to make ends meet during the pandemic and were paid under the real living wage, a study has found.
Data from the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) found that over 803,000 supermarket and care workers were paid under the Living Wage during the pandemic which is £10.85 per hour in London and £9.50 elsewhere.
“Many key workers do not enjoy even relative financial security, including many in the care, retail, food, transport,
and distribution sectors. They face a triple challenge to financial resilience, health, and quality of life,” said Anthony Painter the Chief Research and Impact Officer at the RSA.
“The experience of key workers in the past 18 months or so has deep implications. Economic insecurity and security traps should be more central to our public discussion,” he added.
The report found that social care, supermarket and early years workers faced particular economic hardship during the pandemic with retail workers facing rising levels of customer abuse.
It comes after the Institute for Public Policy Research and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimated that in 2021 the UK’s in work poverty rate stands at between 13 and 17 per cent.
The RSA called for employers to recompense key workers adequately, saying “we believe that reducing insecurity is not a zero-sum game, or a battle between workers and bosses, but an agenda which works for everyone.”
According to the RSA reducing the economic insecurity of workers would have a material benefit for employers. Presenteeism, the practice of going to work when unwell, costs employers an average of £851 per employee each year and is more common in sectors where workers are underpaid.
Read more: UK workers have £500 a month spare after tax and essentials