London’s Poverty Profile
Benefits & welfare reform Demography Education Health Homelessness Housing Inequality Low income Low pay Work & Worklessness
Children Disabled People Ethnicity Migrants Pensioners Women Working-age adults Young adults
Overview of London Boroughs Barking & Dagenham Barnet Bexley Brent Bromley Camden City of London Croydon Ealing Enfield Greenwich Hackney Hammersmith & Fulham Haringey Harrow Havering Hillingdon Hounslow Islington Kensington & Chelsea Kingston upon Thames Lambeth Lewisham Merton Newham Redbridge Richmond upon Thames Southwark Sutton Tower Hamlets Waltham Forest Wandsworth Westminster

Low pay

Workers paid below the London Living Wage

Key findings

1 in 5

employees were paid below the London Living Wage in 2017 (690,000 people).

64%

of jobs in the hospitality sector are low-paid.

55%

of low-paid jobs are held by women.

Overview

The relationship between poverty and low pay is complicated. Low pay alone does not necessarily mean poverty – there are other factors, such as the amount of in-work benefits received by the family, the income of a partner or other family members, family size and housing costs, which are particularly important in London. 

The focus of these indicators is identifying who is likely to be low-paid and therefore potentially at increased risk of being in poverty. The term low pay is used to mean anyone paid below the London Living Wage. 

The London Living Wage is calculated independently in relation to living costs. This is different to the mandatory National Living Wage, which was £7.20 an hour from April 2016 for workers aged over 25.  The most recent data and analysis reflects the London Living Wage set at £9.75 an hour, with earlier years using previous rates (listed here). The rate for 2017/18 is £10.20.

People who are BAME are more likely to be low paid, especially people from Bangladeshi or Pakistani origin, and women are more likely to be low paid than men (although low paid workers who are full-time are more likely to be men). 21% of employed Londoners are paid below the London Living Wage, which is the same as last year's figure. 18% of jobs in London are low paid (including part time jobs). Nearly 64% of jobs in the hospitality sector pay below the London Living Wage – by far the highest of any industry. The next highest rate is in retail and wholesale, where 41% of jobs are low paid.

Low pay: indicators

See all

Data

Low-paid residents by borough

Data

Low-paid jobs by borough

Data

Low pay by ethnicity

Data

Low pay by industry

Data

Low pay by disability

Data

Weekly earnings

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@povertylondon