Survey reveals town among poorest – and unhappiest
THE gulf between Rochdale and Oldham – which leaders here have for some time recognised as lagging behind – and more affluent areas of Greater Manchester have been revealed in a new survey.
So too has the connection between money and happiness.
The survey was conducted by our sister paper the MEN.
It shows the wealthiest part of Greater Manchester – Trafford – is also the happiest, according to answers given. And the poorest bit, Oldham, the least.
While on average Greater Manchester feels it has enough to live on – with 55 per cent saying that was the case – in Rochdale and Oldham most people said the opposite.
And again while more than half of those who responded overall felt their quality of life had improved in the last five years, that picture also varied from place to place.
In Bolton and Rochdale one-in-three people said their quality of life had got worse, compared to just 19 per cent in Bury.
Nearly 40pc of people here believe job opportunities have also deteriorated over the last decade, more than those who thought they had stayed the same – 35pc – or the 19pc who felt they had improved.
But again Rochdale came bottom of the table.
Nearly half the people there felt they had fewer job opportunities than before the economic crash, while in Salford and Trafford the figure was around a third.
The inequality between different boroughs shows up elsewhere in the survey too, in satisfaction rates with our local hospitals, smoking rates, levels of exercise and your views on transport.
But it’s not all bad news for areas such as Rochdale, which had the fewest people saying they had never met their neighbours and comparatively low levels of loneliness, suggesting stronger community ties than in other areas.
But on income and opportunity, the divide is particularly clear.
Trafford emerges as easily the richest borough in the region, with average earnings of more than £38,000 among those who took part in the survey.
In Oldham and Tameside the figure was almost £10,000 lower. People in Trafford scored their happiness at 7.1/10 – the highest in the region – compared to 6.4 in Oldham.
The correlation between wealth and happiness is clear all the way up to £80,000 – when contentment trails off. Two-thirds of people earning between minimum wage and £20,000 said they did not have enough to live on.
One-in-four people earning between £30,000 and £40,000 – above the average salary for the region – said the same. And five people earning more than £100,000 said it was still not enough.
Meanwhile, women in full-time jobs are earning substantially less than men. While there are more female than male workers on wages of £35,000 or less, men overtake in every pay bracket above that.
There were five times more men in high-powered executive jobs – over £100,000 – than women.