An MSP has said it is ”a crying shame” that so many people in Dundee have to work for low wages.
Jenny Marra, Labour member for the north-east, was speaking after figures revealed the city has the one of the worst pay rates in the country, despite being in the top 10 for educational qualifications.
The data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) covers median gross pay for full-time employees in 2011.
Dundee’s figure was £454 a week, Glasgow was only a little ahead on £460, but Edinburgh’s average was £526 and Aberdeen’s was £540.
The Scottish median wage was £490 a week, which means the average worker across the country earned almost £1,900 a year more than the average Dundee employee.
Of the 29 mainland local authorities, only male workers in Dumfries and Galloway earned less than those in Dundee.
The position for female employees was not quite as bad, with the city coming seventh from bottom.
The ONS statistics also show that men continued to earn substantially more than women.
Full-time male employees in Dundee were paid a median wage of £478 per week last year, while their female counterparts earned only £399.
Ms Marra said: ”Dundee desperately requires highly-skilled, quality jobs. Over 36% of people in Dundee have professional qualifications at diploma, degree or higher degree level, and only 10% of the people in the city have no qualifications at all.
”It is a crying shame that the prospect of a skilled job with a good salary remains unavailable for many people who are suitably qualified in Dundee.
”I would like to see the Scottish Government doing all it can to create jobs for Dundee. I will be pushing the Scottish Government to make sure they are doing everything they can to bring renewables jobs to Dundee and make the agreement they signed with Scottish and Southern Energy before Christmas actually yield jobs.
”These figures uncovered today should be a great encouragement to any prospective employer considering Dundee it shows we have a ready and qualified workforce. I will be making the Scottish Government aware of these figures so they can use them to sell Dundee to companies looking to locate in Scotland.”
The Dundee Partnership, which brings the city council together with other public sector bodies, is holding a consultation on a strategy to tackle poverty and social exclusion in the city.
This notes: ”Paid work continues to be a route out of poverty, but we need to do more to recognise and tackle in-work poverty, which accounts for a rising share of family poverty. This will require concerted action at Scottish and UK level.”
It admits that there are challenges ahead, with the global recession, government policies to reduce the national deficit, welfare reform changes and a difficult employment market combining to create the circumstances where poverty and inequality are likely to become even worse.
”We are determined that this will not be the case in Dundee. We have shown over the last 30 years that we can create jobs and stimulate the local economy, raise local income levels and try to close the gap between rich and poor. And now, with the lessons we have learned previously, we can be clever, creative and committed enough to do it again.
”There can be no justification for the serious inequalities in Dundee, and in the same way we want to see a fair Dundee, we believe that Dundee should have the same levels of affluence and inclusion enjoyed by the rest of Scotland,” the strategy says.