Shock over city wages

Jan 7 2005

By Staff Reporter, Evening Mail

Miserly employers are paying Brummies half the wages that workers get in other parts of the country for doing the same jobs. Staff can now check their pay packet against others across the country on the new Pay Wizard website. Union chiefs today blamed the pay disparity for a "brain drain" from the West Midlands to better paid areas like London. TUC regional policy and campaign manager Alan Weaver said: "I believe the West Midlands is a great place to live, but that doesn't put bread on the table." Shocking statistics show electroplaters are paid an average gross wage of £6.77 an hour in the West Midlands, compared to £13.60 an hour in Wales. Story continues ADVERTISEMENT Graphic designers in the West Midlands take home £8.89 an hour, while fellow professionals get a whopping £16.87 an hour in London. And car body repairers are paid £14.54 an hour in the capital, significantly more than the £9.14 paid for the same work in the West Midlands. Other features of the website include a calculator to work out what employees lose in unpaid overtime. The database has been launched by pay analysts Incomes Data Services and the TUC at www.paywizard.org. "Pay discrepancies drag people, for economic reasons, down to London and the South East," said Mr Weaver. "That drains skills away from the West Midlands which can be seen by the region not performing well in the skills league. "It's about competition. If you've got skilled people then you need to pay them accordingly."

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