This page looks at jobs held by borough residents that are paid below the London Living Wage. For jobs located in boroughs, please see 'Low-paid jobs in London', chart four.
The London Living Wage was introduced in 2005. It is a voluntary wage rate based on the amount of money that people need to live. The rate in London in April 2023 when the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings we use for this analysis was conducted was £11.95.
Proportion of borough residents' jobs that are paid below London Living Wage (2023)
Barking and Dagenham had the highest proportion of residents who were low paid (24.6%) in 2023 followed by Brent (23.3%) and Enfield (22.8%). By contrast Wandsworth (9.7%), Hammersmith and Fulham (9.9%) and Kensington and Chelsea (10%) has the lowest proportion.
Barking and Dagenham also had a significant increase compared to 2022 in the proportion of low-paid residents of 5 percentage points, closely following Barnet, which saw a 5.1 ppt increase. Overall 15 of the 32 London boroughs saw an increase in the proportion of low-paid residents compared to 2022 and 17 saw a decrease. Merton had the biggest decrease (6.9 ppt) followed by Kingston upon Thames (3.9ppt).
Proportion of borough residents' jobs that are paid below London Living Wage by sex (2023)
On average across London, the proportion of low-paid jobs held by women is higher than that of men. However, there are noticeable differences between boroughs. Women residents of Kingston upon Thames (20%) are twice as likely as men (10%) to have a low-paid job and in nine boroughs the proportion of women in low-paid work is more than 5 ppt higher than the proportion of men in low-paid work. However, in ten boroughs a greater proportion of men than women are in low-paid work.
Proportion of borough residents' jobs that are paid below London Living Wage by employment type (2023)
The proportion of full-time jobs held by residents that are low-paid is below the London average (13.4%) for all but two boroughs – Brent (13.9%) and Barking and Dagenham (15.8%) – and the remaining boroughs all have proportions between 8% and 11%. Whereas for part-time jobs there is a greater difference between boroughs. At the higher end of the range, in Haringey, Newham, Enfield and Brent over half of residents who work part-time are low-paid. By comparison in Wandsworth (29.7%) and Merton (30.1%) less than a third of residents in part-time work are low-paid.