Bricklayers among most likely to have suffered pay cut

Bricklayers and restaurant staff are among the workers most likely to have suffered a pay cut due to the Covid pandemic, analysis suggests.

IT engineers and air travel assistants are also on the list put together by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

They are among non-key workers who are unlikely to have been able to work from home.

The ONS classed these occupations as "high-vulnerability jobs".

Just under a third (32.4%) of all employees in the UK fall into this category and are more likely to have seen a reduction in working hours or wages during the pandemic.

More than half of employees (53%) who were furloughed last April worked in high-vulnerability jobs.

"Jobs most vulnerable to reduced hours or pay during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic had lower average wages compared with other occupations," the ONS said.

"This may have affected the ability of employees in these jobs to manage financially during lockdown."

Occupations in this group made up 88% of jobs with a median hourly wage below £9.12 - the threshold for low pay.

Examples of high-vulnerability professions that saw a fall in wages include waiting staff, who saw a drop of 10% in median hourly pay from April 2019 to April 2020. At the same time, 77% of them were also likely to have been furloughed.

Bricklayers and masons saw their pay fall 8%, with 64% estimated to have been furloughed. Air travel assistants received 8% less money, with a third furloughed, while IT engineers suffered a pay cut of 7% with a quarter furloughed.

Other big drops in pay are likely to have hit:

• restaurant managers - down 10%, with almost three-quarters furloughed

• sheet metal workers - down 10% and more than half furloughed

• pest control officers - down 8% with more than a third furloughed

• carpenters and joiners - down 6%, nearly two-thirds furloughed.

More than two-fifths (41.4%) of jobs in the high-vulnerability group saw pay reductions in the last year.

Furlough affected changes in pay, the ONS said, with more than a third (36.7%) of employees in high-vulnerability jobs furloughed in April.

More than a quarter (27.9%) of UK employees work in what the ONS classed as low-vulnerability jobs, meaning they are likely to be able to work from home or are considered key workers.

Most professional occupations, which include healthcare specialists, teachers and accountants, fell into the low-vulnerability category.

Just under a third (31.7%) of jobs in this group saw pay decreases in the past year, while only 8.1% were estimated to be furloughed in April.