'Average workers around 3.5 per cent worse off'

Weekly earnings have stayed the same as they were in 2010 for most employees, but hourly earnings for top earners have risen at 18 times the rate of those at the bottom end of the earning scale, according to statistics released by the Office for National Statistics.
The figures show that average weekly earning for full-time employees rose 0.4 per cent on 2010 levels to £501. This compares with a rise of around five per cent in inflation, meaning many people are around 3.5% worse off.
Men's wages went up 0.2 per cent, compared to women's which rose by 1.4 per cent, although women earned only £445 compared with £539 for men.
Average weekly earnings for all employees remained at £404, the same as in 2010. Average annual earnings for full-timers was £26,200, an increase of 1.4 per cent from 2010.
Workers in London earned the most with the average weekly earnings being £651. People in Northern Ireland earned the lowest average pay at £451 a week.
Between 2010 and 2011 the hourly earnings of the lowest paid grew by 0.1 per cent to £7.01 per hour, compared with growth of 1.8 per cent for the top 10 per cent of earners who earned £26.75 per hour on average.
Despite the fact that the gender pay gap dropped to less than 10 per cent for the first time, the Fawcett Society expressed concern that "the average gap in pay is virtually unchanging, with the mean earnings gap stuck at 15 per cent". It said: "For every hundred pounds men take home, women on average take home around £85."
Calling for a government strategy on women's employment, it added that the gap was highest in the private sector and expressed concerns that cutbacks in the public sector could increase the overall gap without concerted action to tackle pay inequality.
Gender campaign Opportunity Now said: "The reduction in the gender pay gap, driven by the increase in the earnings of full time women is welcome, but it must not mask the challenge for part time workers, where women's earnings increased by less than those of men, and where low pay for part time work feeds unequal pay. The majority of people working part time are women, and these women should not be penalised because their working pattern reflects their responsibilities outside the office or shop floor."

Public sector pay
The ONS figures come as the TUC publishes an analysis which it says shows workers with degrees earn more in the private sector than the public sector, while staff with lower level and no qualifications earn more in the public sector.
The report examines pay levels broken down by qualification level. The TUC analysis shows that people educated to degree level earn 4.7 per cent more than public sector workers with the same level of qualifications, while employees without any qualifications earn 3.2 per cent less in the private sector.
The analysis also highlights a stark skills divide between the sectors, with public sector employees almost twice as likely to have a degree as workers in the private sector. Four in ten public sector staff have a degree - with the civil service and health sector professions such as physiotherapy and radiography increasingly requiring high level qualifications. The proportion of workers with no qualifications is twice as high in the private sector, says the report.
This skills divide has been driven by the growing number of specialised public sector jobs such as nursing and teaching, as well as the outsourcing of low-skilled public sector jobs such as cleaners and dinner ladies to the private sector, says the TUC.
The ONS statistics come days after a report by the High Pay Commission which shows top directors pay has risen by 4,000 per cent in the last 30 years. In October, a report by Income Data Services said pay for the directors of the UK's top businesses rose by 50 per cent over the last year.