Shetland short-changed in pay rise levels, new figures claim

Signs have emerged indicating isles workers have been denied sufficient wage increases, with new figures claiming to show pay growth levels over the last seven years at half the national average.

Figures using data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) have put Shetland second bottom in a table of UK regions, ahead only of Aberdeen.

The study claim isles wages have grown by 12 per cent since July 2014. The national average is 24 per cent.

Western isles wage rises were marginally ahead of Shetland at 13 per cent, while Orkney’s figure stands at 15 per cent. Aberdeen saw a rise of only three per cent.

The figures claim Scotland as a whole saw the lowest salary increases of all UK nations at just 17 per cent – compared with 24 per cent in England, 23 per cent in Wales and 20 per cent in Northern Ireland.

The areas with the highest salary increases were all based in London.