In 2025, around one in seven jobs (14.6%) in the UK were paid less than the real Living Wage. That’s 4.4 million jobs that still don’t provide enough for people to meet the cost of living. While this marks a small improvement on the previous year (a 1.1 percentage point reduction), the picture of low pay in the UK remains worrying. The national figures suggest the trajectory of low pay is heading in the right direction which is good news, but the local picture shows this progress is very uneven, and this comes on the back of a large uptick in low pay in the previous year.
The places which already had the highest levels of low pay got worse, not better.
The overall prevalence of low pay (i.e. jobs paid below the Living Wage) fell slightly between 2024 and 2025. But in many of the places already struggling with high levels of low pay things didn’t improve, they got worse.
Among the 25 local authorities with the highest share of low paid jobs, nearly three-quarters (72%) saw increases in low paid work, compared to a third (33%) of all local authorities. These 25 local authorities account for nearly 7.5% of all low paid jobs in the UK, despite only 4% of all jobs being located there. In other words, they have nearly twice their share of low-paid jobs.
This highlights why we need place-based strategies that expand access to decent, secure jobs in the communities that need them most.
Low pay isn't spread evenly across the workforce
Beyond geography, the groups most exposed to low pay remain the same as in previous years, and the inequalities are stark:
- Women: Jobs held by women are about a third more likely to be low paid than those held by men, and account for nearly 60% of all low-paid jobs.
- Part-time workers: Part-time roles are 3.3 times more likely to be low paid than full-time roles. More than a quarter (2.5m jobs) of all part-time jobs are low paid.
- Hospitality: Over half (53%) of all hospitality jobs are low paid, the highest proportion by far of any industry.
- Sales occupation: Over half (51%) of sales roles (retail assistants or cashiers) are low paid, the highest proportion by far of any occupation,
- Young workers: Over half (57%) of those aged 18-21 are low paid, the highest proportion by far of any age group.
The cost-of-living crisis still casts a long shadow
Looking back at the trajectory of low pay helps us better understand the current picture. From 2019 to 2022, low pay fell steadily as the government increased the statutory minimum wage. It reached a historic low of 12.3% in 2022. But the cost-of-living crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine quickly unravelled some of that progress.
Energy prices surged, inflation hit a 41-year high of 11.1% in 2022 and food inflation peaked at 19.1% in 2023. This hit lower-income households hardest because they spend a greater share of their income on essentials which have seen higher inflation rates. Wages simply didn’t keep up. As the Living Wage rate is updated annually to reflect changes in the cost of living, 2024 saw the largest annual increase in both the proportion and number of low paid jobs since records began in 2012.
The slight fall in the prevalence of low pay in 2025 is a partial correction from 2024’s exceptional spike. It’s good news for low paid workers, but it doesn’t mean they are out of the woods.
What this means for workers
For those who are paid below the real Living Wage, rising prices have a real impact on their standard of living. Nearly six in ten such workers reported skipping meals, turning off heating, falling behind on bills or taking out payday loans in 2025.1
Living costs remain high, and low pay continues to be a real challenge for millions of workers; it means daily trade-offs that affect their health, their relationships and their quality of life.
A real Living Wage remains one of the most effective tools we have to ensure workers can lead secure, happy and healthy lives. Living Wage Employers join a movement of thousands of responsible businesses who have chosen to transform people’s lives and raise the bar for what decent work looks like in the UK.
Find out more in our latest report on low pay in the UK: Employee Jobs Paid Below the Real Living Wage 2025 | Living Wage Foundation