Employee Jobs Paid Below the Real Living Wage 2024

This is the Living Wage Foundation’s 13th annual report on the scale of low pay in the UK, based on ONS data from 2024.  

Our analysis finds that both the proportion and number of jobs paid below the real Living Wage (which we define as low paid) increased between 2023 and 2024. This marks the largest annual rise since the time series began in 2012.  

This reflects the economic pressures of the cost-of-living crisis, as low-paid workers faced a steep rise in day-to-day costs while wages failed to keep pace. Our findings highlight that low pay remains a significant challenge in the UK labour market and reinforce the need for wages that reflect the rising cost of living. 

Key findings: 

• 15.7 per cent of employee jobs in the UK (4.5 million jobs) were paid below the real Living Wage in April 2024 – an increase from 13.0 per cent (3.7 million jobs) in April 2023. This is the largest annual rise in both the proportion and number of jobs below the real Living Wage since this timeseries began in 2012.  
• Rates of low pay continue to vary significantly across geographical areas, but all nations and regions saw their level of low pay increase between 2023 and 2024, with Northern Ireland experiencing the highest proportion of low pay (20.6 per cent). 
• Women and part-time workers continue to be disproportionately affected by low pay compared to men and full-time workers. 
• In 2024, women were nearly 50 per cent more likely to be low paid than men (18.7 per cent of jobs held by women being paid below the real Living Wage vs 12.6 per cent for jobs held by men). Women also accounted for 60.8 per cent of all jobs paid below the real Living Wage in 2024, highlighting their over-representation in low-paid jobs. 
• In 2024, part-time employees were over three times more likely to be low paid than full-time employees (32.2 per cent of part time jobs being paid below the real Living Wage, vs 9.7 per cent of full-time jobs.) 
• Rates of low pay vary significantly across industries, but all industries saw their levels of low pay rise between 2023 and 2024, with hospitality remaining the area with the highest proportion of low pay (53.6 per cent). The sector with the highest number of jobs paid below real Living Wage is the wholesale and retail sector, with more than a million low paid jobs in 2024.