WOMEN make up almost half the workforce in Lancashire, a new survey has revealed.

Of the 514,800 employees in the county, 49.4 per cent of them are women.

The survey by the GMB union showed that women outnumbered men in 180 out of 322 travel-to-work areas in the UK.

The union believes a national minimum wage would bring large rewards to many communities across the UK.

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