THE North-East workforce is the worst paid in England, union figures revealed last night.
The region is second from the bottom of an hourly earnings league for the 12 regions of the UK, with full-time workers earning on average £11.08 per hour - £1.67 below the national average. Only Northern Ireland has lower average pay.
Britain's General Union, GMB, which published the figures, has blamed the demise of manufacturing in the North-East for its low position.
Workers in Redcar and Cleveland are among the highest paid, with hourly rates averaging £12.15. Those in Darlington and Hartlepool are the lowest paid, with pay averaging £10.37 and £10.43 per hour respectively. Yorkshire and Humberside is eighth, with people working in North Yorkshire earning an average of £10.99 per hour.
GMB regional secretary Tom Brennan said: "The North-East's position is particularly brought about by the demise of manufacturing and the subsequent loss of highly skilled, well paying jobs especially within the Tees Valley.
"If the focus continues to remain on bringing in low value and low paying service sector jobs then we will continue to go down this road.Our figures are a complete contrast to those in the south-east where there is an increase in manufacturing jobs."
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