Hyslop Welcomes Minimum Wage Figures for West Lothian
Linlithgow Constituency MSP Fiona Hyslop has welcomed the news that 95% of workers in the Linlithgow (and Falkirk East) Constituency earn above the national minimum wage. The figures also show that Scottish people are the least likely to be on minimum wage jobs in the UK.
New UK Government analysis, taken from the Annual Survey of Hours & Earnings 2018, shows that 94% of Scots workers earn above the National Minimum or National Living Wage – while 7% of workers in England, and 11% in Northern Ireland, remain on the obligatory pay. Although the powers to set the minimum wage remain reserved to Westminster, the Scottish Government has taken steps to ensure that over 1000 employers now pay a Real Living Wage in Scotland. 81.6% of Scottish workers earn the Real Living Wage, the highest rate in the UK.
Fiona said,
“It’s good to see that 95% of workers in the Linlithgow (and Falkirk East) Constituency earn above UK Government’s National Minimum or National Living Wage and are even above the Scottish National average.
“However, the UK Government must do better to support low income workers and I would call upon the UK Government to raise the National Living Wage to the level of the Real Living Wage to ensure that all workers would earn more than £10 an hour by 2022.
“Families here in West Lothian and across Scotland are struggling to get by on incomes that have been squeezed by years of damaging Tory austerity.
“The SNP have been working hard to promote a Real Living Wage in Scotland, with over 1000 employers in Scotland now committed to paying their staff a fair wage. If the UK government are not prepared to act on this, powers should be immediately devolved to Holyrood so this SNP Government can introduce a Real Living Wage for all workers in Scotland.”
ENDS
Notes: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-minimum-wage-and-national-living-wage-coverage-2018