UK - low wages, inequality

More than five million people in the UK earn less than a low pay threshold, highlighting the huge level of wage inequality in the country, according to a new report. The study showed that 5.3 million people - more than a fifth of all employees - fall below a low pay threshold put at £6.75 an hour for a single person, almost £1 more than the national minimum wage of £5.80.The number of people falling below the threshold is one of the highest in Europe, hitting the economy and fuelling wage inequality, said the report.Since 1997, the poorest 10% of households have seen their weekly incomes fall by £9 a week and as real wages have fallen, the gap between what workers earned and what they needed had been increasingly filled by debt, said the report.

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