Welsh wage slavery

Jobs on offer at Welsh Job-centres tend to be low paid and part-time, according to new analysis – a situation a think- tank says prevents people from escaping poverty. Analysis of new jobs based in Wales posted on jobseekers.direct.gov.uk, the Jobcentres’ online database, shows more than three-fifths of jobs on offer are part time. A quarter of the jobs are offering less that £6.50 an hour, with 16% of all those listed offering only to meet the national minimum wage. Around 10% of opportunities on offer are listed as being only temporary.

Victoria Winckler, director of social justice think-tank the Bevan Foundation, said “What we found is the combination of low pay, not many hours and often uncertainty about the number of hours because of flexible contracts, is making it extremely difficult for people not only to escape poverty but also to gain a decent quality of life If you’re working a job where you don’t know if you’re working five hours, 15 hours or 35 hours this week, you can’t plan your transport, you can’t organise your family and in a week when you’re working five hours, the pay could be barely enough to pay food and bills. That’s a huge factor in the growth and persistence of poverty. It’s also a factor in people’s reluctance to come off benefits, because at the end of the day even though it might be low at least you have the security of a regular income. What will often happen, something we’ve got anecdotal evidence of, is that some people are working two or three part-time jobs.”

David Blackaby, a professor of economics at the University of Swansea, who specialises in labour markets, said part-time, low-paid positions are likely to be a result of the current economic climate. He said: “You might say it’s a buyers’ market...It is possible for companies not to offer quite the quality of wage package they did in the past."
He added government research had shown there are currently around a million part-time workers who would like to be in full-time employment.