Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what percentage of jobs in Ashfield constituency pay (a) the national minimum wage and (b) sums up to the living wage.

Through the National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW) the Government helps to protect the lowest paid in society. We are committed to raising the NLW to 60 per cent of median earnings by 2020, subject to economic growth.

On 1 April 2019, the NLW will increase by 4.9% to £8.21. This means that the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW will have increased by £2,750 since the policy was introduced. Increases to the NMW rates, also effective from 1 April, will continue to outstrip inflation.

The Government estimates that in the Ashfield constituency 3,800 workers are paid the NLW (for those aged 25 and over) or NMW rates (for those aged between 16-24 and apprentices). This represents 9 per cent of the constituency’s workforce. This estimate is obtained from the Office for National Statistics’ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE).