A STUDY has revealed that workers’ pay in Pembrokeshire has fallen by almost a quarter over the last six years against an average fall in Welsh earnings of 13.5% The GMB Union, which has produced the figures from the Office of National Statistics data, claims the figures are a damning and shocking indictment of how the Tories have run the economy and reveal who has benefited from their time in office.
The real value of average earnings of all employees resident in Wales has dropped by 13.5% between April 2008 and April 2014 a new GMB study of official earnings data shows. For employees resident in Pembrokeshire the drop has been 23.8% and it has been one of the three areas in Wales worst affected by the recession. The loss of well-paid and skilled jobs in the locality over the last twelve months, particularly at Murco and Mustang Marine, is likely to continue to drive workers’ pay down in the County.
Pembrokeshire is already a hotspot of low-paid, seasonal and casual work, with the Council paying almost 3,000 of its employees less than a living wage. In April 2008 the mean gross annual earnings for all employees resident in Wales according to the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) was £21,944. The ASHE figure for the mean gross annual earnings for all employees resident in Wales for April 2014 was £23,258. This is an increase of £1,314 or 6%. Between April 2008 and April 2014 inflation has been 19.5%. This means the drop in real value of average earnings in Wales between April 2008 and April 2014 has been 13.5%. For the UK as a whole the drop in the real value of average earnings of all employees between April 2008 and April 2014 has been 15.1%.
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