London workers top UK pay league

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Workers in London earn 50% more than employees in other parts of the UK on average, the GMB union has found.

Full-time workers in London earn an average of £46,000, compared to the UK average of £31,300, the GMB found.

The lowest annual salaries were in Wales, the North East and Northern Ireland, where it was £25,550, the GMB found using 2008 National Statistics.

The GMB said: "We will have to see if average pay holds up in 2009 in the face of this slowdown."

The biggest earners were in the City of London with an average pay of £82,000 per annum.

The top 50 areas for wages included London's 27 boroughs along with Windsor and Maidenhead, Bracknell Forest, Wokingham, Bournemouth, Surrey, Slough and Aberdeen.

AVERAGE FULL-TIME SALARIES London £46,462South East £32,819East £30,318Scotland £28,296South West £28,182East Midlands £28,057North West £28,045West Midlands £27,872Yorkshire & the Humber £27,534Wales £25,677North East £25,551Northern Ireland £25,550 <i>Source: Office for National Statistics</i>

The area with the lowest full-time salary was Blaunau Gwent in South Wales, where workers earned £21,550.

Low salaries were also found at Inverclyde in Scotland, Ceredigion in Wales and Blackpool in Lancashire.

GMB general secretary Paul Kenny said: "Since these figures were drawn up, the credit crunch - which originated from excesses in the financial sector - has now given rise to a full blown recession, with all the misery that entails."

The union urged the government to "deal once and for all with the elements in the financial sector responsible for this recession".