WORKERS in East Lancashire will be among 197,000 in the North West to benefit from today's introduction of a national minimum wage.

The new rates are £3.60 per hour for employees aged 22 or over, £3.00 per hour for employees aged 18-21 and £3.20 per hour for those aged 22 or over who are receiving training.

Burnley will get the biggest boost, according to government estimates, with almost twice as many low wage-earners than in Blackburn, Hyndburn or Ribble Valley.

Based on figures from April 1998, 5.6 per cent of Burnley's workforce aged over 21 are paid less than the bottom line.

The total in Hyndburn is 3.1 per cent, Blackburn 2.8 per cent and Ribble Valley only 2.5 per cent.

In Lancashire, only Blackpool South and Lancaster and Wyre have a higher percentage of badly-paid employees than Burnley.

However, many districts, including Pendle, Rossendale and Darwen had surveys too small to provide a sample.

Nationally, the changes will affect almost two million people - 8 per cent of the 23 million currently employed in the UK.

Most of those to benefit from the new rules will be female part-time workers, with one million set to receive a pay increase.

The occupations most affected will be wholesale and retail, hotels and restaurants, health and social work, personal and protective services and the sales industry.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.