One in five London jobs do not pay a living wage

Depending on where a resident lives in London, the percentage of jobs that do not pay a living range ranges from 18% in the city centre to over 25% in the outer boroughs. This equates to over 600,000 jobs that are not paying enough money to the person so they can keep up with their bills on a monthly basis. The low wages are one factor that is leading to almost two million London residents to be living in poverty.

This lack of a living wage is leading to very high poverty rates across the region. Now, in addition to that major issue, another challenge facing the poor is that the government will be passing along reduced funding to local councils and this is causing them to lower the amount of money available in their general funds for welfare.

The low wage and reduction in the social safety net are the two of the biggest reasons why more people continue to be evicted from their homes or face hunger. One result of the stagnant wages and reduction of these welfare schemes is that food banks in London continue to be turned to for short term needs and there are also still too many people threatened by homelessness. So there are real life hardships being faced by hundreds of thousands of residents.

An assessment of the Office for National Statistics shows that some of the outer boroughs, such as Hackney, have between 25 to 30 per cent of their residents not making a livable wage. Many of these people are part-time workers or are employed in industries such as retail, hospitality, cleaning and social care. They often want a full time job but can’t find one or do not have the necessary skills.

Of the two million in poverty, over 50% of those households have a member with a job. But it either doesn’t pay them enough money to cover their bills, or it is just a part time position. This shows that many London residents are in fact trying to break the cycle of poverty, but the lack of opportunities with a livable wage will not allow it. This is even impacting their children, as 7 of the top 20 local authority areas for child poverty are in London.

The government is not helping much in this battle for ensuring everyone has access to living wages. Some of the boroughs with the highest number of people under the living wage are facing major cuts in funding. The authorities in Hackney expect 6.3% less funds for the upcoming year, while Lewisham may be cut back by 5.5%. Southwark will have its budget cut by over £20m, or 6%.

In fact, the reductions in local council funding is bound to reduce the availability of programmes such as youth services, job training and children centres. These are very important for getting young people on the right patch to gaining skills and experience, which can lead to a decent paying job. So due to the low wages and lack of support from the central government, there may be no end in sight for the challenges being faced by many hard-working London families.