National Minimum Wage

Chapter 2: The Impact of the National Minimum Wage
Table 2.3: Proportion of Jobs Held by Those Aged 22 and Over, Paid At or Below the
Adult National Minimum Wage, by Sector and Firm Size, UK, 2009-2011
Per cent
Industry/Occupation/
Size of firm
Paid
at or
below
£5.73 a
April 2009 April 2010 April 2011
Paid
below
£5.80
Paid
below
£6.50
Paid
at or
below
£5.80 a
Paid
below
£5.93
Paid
below
£6.50
Paid
at or
below
£5.93 a
Paid
below
£6.08
Paid
below
£6.50
Retail 7.7 8.3 33.7 6.8 9.0 29.4 7.0 11.4 27.3
Hospitality 23.3 24.0 46.8 20.3 23.6 43.2 21.8 29.8 42.1
Leisure, travel & sport 9.0 9.3 24.8 6.8 9.5 20.5 6.9 12.5 21.6
Cleaning 21.9 22.4 48.3 23.4 26.8 50.3 21.7 32.9 46.5
Security 4.4 4.5 17.1 4.8 5.2 15.7 5.2 7.4 13.0
Social care 6.2 6.4 26.0 6.4 8.9 24.1 7.9 11.9 23.6
Childcare 10.3 11.0 34.0 9.4 12.9 35.4 11.0 17.5 32.6
Agriculture 4.7 5.0 18.3 5.1 5.9 16.6 5.7 8.1 14.7
Textiles & clothing 8.3 8.3 23.1 10.4 13.0 23.5 8.7 12.6 20.2
Hairdressing 15.3 15.5 37.5 18.5 20.1 36.3 16.4 26.2 35.3
Employment agencies 10.3 10.5 22.7 11.0 12.7 22.9 14.0 18.7 25.0
Food processing 5.7 6.3 21.7 5.6 7.1 20.3 5.5 7.2 16.9
Office work b 4.4 4.6 17.6 3.7 4.8 15.3 5.9 9.2 16.9
All low-paying industries 10.5 11.0 32.4 9.9 12.2 29.9 10.7 15.9 28.6
Micro 7.9 8.1 20.2 8.4 9.7 20.5 8.3 13.0 19.2
Other small 4.8 5.0 13.6 4.3 5.2 12.1 4.7 7.3 12.4
Medium 4.0 4.2 11.6 4.0 4.9 11.1 4.3 6.1 10.6
Large 2.6 2.8 10.1 2.5 3.2 9.2 2.9 4.1 8.7
Whole economy 3.4 3.6 11.4 3.3 4.1 10.6 3.7 5.4 10.1
Source: LPC estimates based on ASHE, 2007 methodology, low-pay weights, including those not on adult rates of pay, UK,
April 2009-2011.
Notes:
a. Based on a five pence band.
b. This sector is defined using Standard Occupational Classifications (SOC) 2000. The other sectors are based on SIC 2007.
2.42 Table 2.3 also shows the proportions paid below the then forthcoming minimum wage across
low-paying sectors and by size of firm. These show a considerable increase for every sector
and firm size. In April 2011, 5.4 per cent of jobs in the economy were paid less than the then
forthcoming minimum wage (£6.08 an hour), compared with 4.1 per cent in 2010 and just 3.6
per cent in 2009. Across the low-paying industries as a whole, this proportion had increased
from 11.0 per cent in 2009 to 15.9 per cent in 2011. All low-paying sectors experienced an
increase in coverage of the forthcoming rate but it was most noticeable in cleaning (up from
22.4 per cent to 32.9 per cent), hairdressing (up from 15.5 per cent to 26.2 per cent), and
employment agencies (up from 10.5 per cent to 18.7 per cent).
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