The rate is just £282.90 a week according to the latest data from the Office of National Statistics. And it’s still falling. The average weekly pay fell by a whopping 8.3% last year.
The average weekly wage in Weymouth and Portland is £25 below the next worst in Rother near Sheffield.
When taking inflation into account, South West workers are still £38 a week worse off than they were before the financial crash. The ONS figures show that for the year to April 2017 real wages in the South West were 8.5% below their 2008 level.
Nationally, inflation has overtaken wage growth for the last six months, so the South West TUC is concerned that next year could be even worse.
TUC Regional Secretary for the South West Nigel Costley said:
“Most families still haven’t recovered from the financial crash, yet their pay packets are now taking another hammering. It’s leaving working people facing hardship and getting deeper into debt. Weymouth and Portland seems stuck in an economy that can only offer poor pay and the failure of government to address the pay squeeze has left communities feeling abandoned.
“Public sector workers have had it especially hard, with real pay cuts for seven long years. The Chancellor must use next month’s budget to give them the pay rise they’ve earned.
“He should also use the budget to help bring great jobs to the South West, by investing in skills and infrastructure. And he must help low-paid workers by raising the minimum wage to £10 an hour as soon as possible.”
