Thousand Of Merseyside Families 'One Pay Day Away From Poverty'
A leading Union is warning that thousands of families on Merseyside are so much in debt that they're 'just one pay day away from poverty'
The TUC says that average pay in real terms is still £2468 less than it was in 2008 - a shortfall of £47 a week
A spokesperson said: "The figures confirm that despite some strengethening of wages over 2014 to 15, workers in the North West still ghave a long way to go to resotre all the earnings they lost following the longest squzze on wages since records began in the 1850s"
TUC regional secretary Lynn Collins says many are struggling so much - they're turning to loands a credit cards to help make ends meet.
She said: "A lot of families are on the edge, theyve diopped into debt to meet the cost of everyday life and I think we're storing up problems for the future"
"As well as those being paid the mimumum wage, we've got a lot of people on zero hour contracts who dont know what their wages are going to be from one week to the next, and have to plan their outgoings one week to the next, so it's potentially thousands of families. We know we're seeing more children in poverty than ever before".
The average North West annual wage increased in real terms by £347 from 2014 to 2015 - the first annual increase for several years, but monthly data on avwerage weekly earnings from the Office for National Statistics claim wage growth slowed in the second half of 2015.
Lynn said: "Despite five years of growth, the pressure on living standarrds has barely let up" "The Government must do the right thing for the economy, and the right thing by workers"