Menu

Contents

Low pay London

London Essays – Issue 7: Work

Low pay London

London is a wealthy and successful global city. But Londoners on modest incomes have seen their earnings squeezed.

The proportion of workers earning less that the London Living Wage has risen dramatically in recent years. This trend is particularly notable in inner east London, long the poorest part of the capital, but also in once-affluent outer London boroughs. Most Londoners travel to work, leading to pronounced differences between the work and residential earning profiles of London’s boroughs. Higher-earning workers tend to work in the West End, the City and Canary Wharf, but live in the west and southwest.

Source: All data is from the Annual Population Survey (APS), 2008 and 2015. The 2008 LLW is calculated by the Greater London Authority at £7.40 per hour; the 2015 LLW is set by the Living Wage Foundation at £9.40 per hour. LLW percentages only include those who answered the earnings question in the APS.