Paved with gold? Low pay and the National Living Wage in Britain’s cities

The National Living Wage (NLW) will come into effect in April and is set to rise considerably over the rest of the parliament. This will mean a welcome pay rise for six million employees, but as an ambitious labour market policy it will present challenges. This short briefing focuses on the impact of the NLW in 11 large city regions. Together these sub-regional labour markets include nearly half of Britain’s jobs and there is an ongoing devolution of economic powers from central government to city leaders, including directly elected mayors. They therefore have an increasingly crucial role to play in ensuring the NLW is as successful as possible.