Low Pay Unit- the usual suspects

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Occupational pay rates

The 'Usual Suspects'

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RESEARCH AND INFORMATION ON LOW PAY

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, April 2001
Job	Average pay April 2001	Change from April 2000 (pence per hour)
Bar staff	£4.67	0.15p
Launderers, dry cleaners	£4.68	0.18p
Waitresses	£4.84	0.10p
Petrol pump attendants	£4.91	0.17p
Kitchen porters/hands	£5.01	0.9p
Catering assistant	£5.10	0.25p
Check-out operator	£5.12	0.28p
Hairdresser	£5.15	0.36p
Cleaner	£5.18	0.33p
Shelf-filler	£5.82	0.14

Average hourly pay for men in full-time work, April 2001
Job	Average pay April 2001	Change from April 2000 (pence per hr)
Kitchen porter	£4.86	0.23p
Check-out operator	£5.03	no figures
Bar staff	£5.06	0.44p
Counterhand	£5.13	0.22p
Hotel porter	£5.15	0.16p
Launderer/Dry cleaner	£5.18	0.3p
Waiter	£5.33	0.32p
Cleaner	£5.53	0.18p
Fishmonger	£5.54	0.10p
Shelf-filler	£5.70	no figures

Source for both tables: New Earnings Survey 2001

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 reintroduced minimum pay protection for these jobs.

Pay rates here are for full-time workers only: part-timers are likely to be on even lower pay rates.

For more information on the New Earning Survey, see our NES press release

Click here for "the usual suspects - 2000"