MORE workers in Lancashire earn less than £5 an hour than anywhere else in the North West, according to a union report.

The Transport and General Workers' Union is estimates that 37 per cent of workers in the county fall below its low pay threshold - almost 200,000 people.

Merseyside has 32 per cent, Greater Manchester 33 per cent and Cumbria 27 per cent.

The T&G has now launched a campaign for employers to set a minimum £5 an hour rate.

It is appalling that at the end of the 21st century there are still seven million workers in the country earning this low level," said Bill Morris, general secretary of the union.

"We will be talking to every employer to raise pay levels for our members."

Dumfries in Scotland with 50 per cent had the highest low pay figure, followed by Humberside, Cornwall and Dyfed. Inner London has 13 per cent of workers on under £5 an hour.

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