Half of UK hospitality jobs pay below Real Living Wage, data shows

One in two hospitality jobs in the UK are paid below the Real Living Wage of £13.45 per hour, according to recent research.

Analysis of ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) data by the Living Wage Foundation revealed that 53.1% of jobs in hospitality are paid below the Real Living Wage – the highest rate of any UK sector for the 14th year running.

Data also showed that 759,000 of the 4.4 million low paid jobs in the UK came from hospitality, while a million of these came from the wholesale and retail sector, which ranked third out of the industries with the highest rates of low pay.

The Living Wage Foundation has subsequently urged more hospitality businesses to join the 500 employers in the sector that already pay the Real Living Wage, which offers an additional £1.64 per hour than the National Minimum Wage.

A full-time worker who is paid the £13.45 Real Living Wage will receive £2,400 in additional wages annually compared to the current minimum rate, while this figure rises to over £5,000 for a full-time worker in London, who is paid £14.80 per hour on the Real Living Wage.

Katherine Chapman, director of the Living Wage Foundation, said: “Today’s findings show that one in two hospitality workers are paid less than the Real Living Wage, the highest rate of any UK sector. Over three quarters of a million hospitality staff, as well as millions more across the UK, are still struggling to live with dignity as their pay is too low to cover basic living costs. 

“The Real Living Wage is the solution. After years of high prices, it’s more important than ever that more employers join over 500 in the hospitality sector, and 16,000 across the wider economy, committed to doing the right thing by paying their workers in line with the cost of living.”

Isobel Hughes, a casual assistant at Living Wage employer North Tyneside Big Local Café in Whitley Bay, added: “The fact that North Tyneside Big Local pays Living Wage is one of the reasons I was keen to work here. If you see an employer paying the Living Wage, it’s an indicator that the employer cares about its workers. In café environments it can feel like employers pay you and treat you to a level that they feel they can get away with. I wanted to work in a space where hard work is rewarded.”

Over 16,000 employers across the UK pay the Living Wage, which has provided an extra £4.7b for workers since the launch of the campaign in 2001.

Photo: Freebird79771/Shutterstock