People in North East some of worst-paid at 14% below norm

Aug 8 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

PAY in the region is continuing to lag behind the national average but North East women are narrowing the earnings gap with men more effectively than in other parts of the country.

In the Tyne and Wear “city region” – which includes parts of Northumberland and County Durham – the average wage is £472.60 a week or £24,580 annually, 14% below the average wage of £549.80 a week or £28,590 a year. The figures, pulled together by Tyne and Wear Research and Information from the Government’s 2007 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, show that Tyne and Wear’s average earnings lagged well behind most other local authority areas. They came in at 68 in the table of 87 council areas.

However, wages grew on par with the national average between 1998 and last year, rising by about 36%.

The report says that in real terms, when inflation is taken into account, men’s pay grew 6% over the nine years but women’s far outstripped that, jumping by 16%. Indeed, women’s earnings in the North East grew faster than the national average, rising by 48% compared with the UK increase in female wages of 42.9%. Broken down, average earnings among women in the region came in at 45 in the table of 87 local authority areas, while North East men languished in 73rd place.

Managing director of Newcastle’s Solutions Recruitment, Margaret Clare, said: “There is a mix of jobs from professional to ordinary here. In the City, you have a very high-end environment, so when you work out the averages, it works out better here.

“Women have actually caught up in the middle and the junior grades, but I’m not so sure they have at senior and director level. There is still a lack of women in very, very senior positions. It’s a generational thing.”

Women are still earning less than men, although the gap in the North East is smaller than in other parts of the country. Considered on an hourly basis, women in the region are earning 91% of men’s wages, while nationally they are only being paid 83% of the amount men can command.

On a less optimistic note, the number crunchers found earnings in the region fell by 0.2% between 2006 and 2007, while nationally they rose by 2.8%.

Compared with nearby West Yorkshire, men and women in the region are earning £44 less per week or £2,300 less a year.

Overall, people working in the public sector in the North East earned 6.9% more per week than those in the private sector, while union members pulled in 17.6% an hour more than non-unionised staff.