The 'Usual Suspects'
The ten lowest paid jobs for men and women, occupations which are consistently at the bottom of the average pay league.
| Average hourly pay for women in full-time work 2000 |
Job |
Average pay April 2000 |
Change from April 1999-2000 |
Bar staff |
£4.41 |
3% |
Launderers, dry cleaners |
£4.50 |
3% |
Petrol pump attendants |
£4.74 |
7% |
Kitchen porters, hands |
£4.51 |
0% |
Waitress/waiter |
£4.67 |
1% |
Catering assistant |
£4.85 |
5% |
Hairdresser |
£4.79 |
3% |
Cleaner |
£4.85 |
5% |
Checkout operator |
£4.84 |
0.2% |
Childcare assistant* |
£4.91 |
1% |
| Average hourly pay for men in full-time work, April 2000 |
Job | Average pay April 2000 |
Change from April 1999-2000 |
Bar staff |
£4.62 |
1% |
Kitchen porter, hand |
£4.63 |
5% |
Counter hand |
£4.91 |
0% |
Hotel porters |
£4.99 |
7% |
Waitress/waiter |
£5.01 |
5% |
Launderer/Dry cleaner |
£5.15 |
6% |
Cleaner |
£5.35 |
4% |
Agricultural machinery driver |
£5.35 | 5% |
Fishmongers |
£5.44 |
-3% |
Farm workers |
£5.50 |
3% |
Source for both tables: New Earnings Survey 2000. (This is the latest data available: the NES for 2001 will not be released until mid-January 2002)
Many of these jobs used to have some minimum wage protection under the Wages Councils, but pay stagnated and in some cases even decreased when Wages Councils were abolished in 1993. The introduction of a National Minimum Wage in April 1999 re-introduced minimum pay protection for these jobs.
Note also that the pay rates here are for full-time work only, part-timers are likely to be on even lower pay rates.
