Ethnic workers earn 3.8% less
Official analysis reveals UK wage divide
ETHNIC minority workers in the UK earned an average of 3.8 per cent less than white workers last year. The finding comes from the first official analysis of its kind carried out by the Office for National Statistics. It looked at workers by which ethnic group they classed themselves as being from, rather than their country of birth. According to the ONS, the average white British worker earned just over £12 an hour before tax and national insurance last year. That THE boss of Marks & open the Spencer has left store closures possibility of more plans to shut after saying its current finite”. Chief 110 outlets are “not of older Rowe said its raft executive Steve to it back”, as he spoke stores were “holding general company’s annual shareholders at the it is Archie Norman added meeting. Chairman stores for “not shutting now paying the price the The company is in 10 or 20 years ago”. overhaul, which midst of a major close 85 bigger includes plans to 25 Simply stores and around Food outlets. compares with £9.60 on average for workers in the Bangladeshi group, the lowest paid, followed by Pakistanis at £10 an hour.
Workers who classed themselves as Caribbean, African and Black British earned an average of £10.92.
However, those within the Chinese ethnic group earned nearly 31 per cent more than white workers at £15.75 an hour, while those in the India group earned £13.47.
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The harsh reality is even today race still plays a real role in determining pay. TUC research has MP Dawn Butler shown that far too many black and minority ethnic workers are stuck in insecure and temporary work, which not only has a huge impact on their life chances but also widens the pay gap.”
Dawn Butler, Labour’s Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary, said: “Today’s figures highlight the shocking persistence of ethnic pay inequality.
“People need to earn a fair wage based on merit, not by virtue of the colour of their skin.”
And Nell Andrew, the GMB union’s national equality and inclusion officer, said: “It’s disturbing that in 2019 the UK should have any ethnicity pay gap – let alone one as big as this.” STORY CLIMB Katie launches Flybraries TV PRESENTER Katie Piper has helped easyJet launch on-board ‘Flybraries’. The budget airline has teamed up with publisher Harper Collins to stock more than 60,000 children’s books on more than 300 of its planes this summer. Books including Michael Bond’s Paddington Abroad and Geek Girl by Holly Smale will be put in the seat pockets of flights leaving the UK, then left for the next passenger. The aim is to encourage parents and children to read together. NEARLY 25,000 Asda workers who invested money in the company have shared a near-£62million windfall.
A three-year Save As You Earn Scheme that started in 2016 allowed staff to put away between £5 and £300 a month from their salary. They’ve now been able to buy shares in Asda’s US owner Walmart at a 20 per cent discount.
A rise in Walmart’s share price means staff who subsequently sold them are quids in. The average worker who saved £70 a month made £3,400 profit. Someone saving the maximum of £300 has made just over £14,500.
Asda’s Hayley Tatum said: “Giving our colleagues the chance to save each month, risk-free, is just one of our ways of saying thank you.”
But the news comes as Asda is being blasted for a contract shake-up which Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh says will leave about 2,700 staff up to £500 a year worse off.