Part-timers still on lower pay

That's according to the annual survey of JobCentre pay rates carried out by Greater Manchester Low Pay Unit.

The survey of JobCentre vacancies in Greater Manchester found that:

Average hourly rate of pay for full-time jobs was £5.28, compared with £4.30 for part-time jobs.

The gap between the earnings of full-time and part-time workers has widened. In 2000, full-time workers earned 82p an hour more than part-time workers, whereas in 2001, the gap had widened to 98p.

In 1993, part-time jobs paid 88 per cent of the full-time rate, whereas in 2001 they paid only 81 per cent. In April, there were 4,067 jobs on display in Greater Manchester JobCentres, a rise of almost five per cent on the previous year and the highest number since the annual survey began in 1992.

In Bury, the figure was 328, comprising 273 vacancies from Bury and 55 from Radcliffe. The overall figure was an increase of 30, compared to the previous year.

Of these vacancies, 65 were for catering, followed by 40 for cleaning, 36 for skilled work and 30 involving driving.

And 71.8 per cent of these vacancies offered hourly pay rates of about £4.80, with 28.2 per cent of advertised jobs paying more than this amount. This equated to an average figure of £4.62p.

The average weekly pay rate for the Bury JobCentre vacancies amounted to £137.36p, with the average hours of work totalling 28.3.

Overall, however, Greater Manchester Low Pay Unit is concerned that, according to its survey, part-time workers are still losing out.

Claire Faichnie, researcher at the unit, said: "More than a third of jobs in Greater Manchester Jobcentres were part-time and offering extremely low levels of pay.

"This means that many people are still not earning enough to support their families without having to claim means-tested benefits or tax credits.

"We urge the Government to turn its attention to the quality of jobs available to local unemployed people," she concluded.