More than a third of North Hertfordshire’s workforce are key workers, new figures show.
Key workers are those seen as essential to the coronavirus response, and include health and social care staff, delivery drivers, supermarket employees.
North Hertfordshire was home to 23,000 key workers in 2019, Office for National Statistics figures show.
This is equal to 35 per cent of the area’s workforce – slightly above the UK average of 33 per cent.
The Trades Union Congress says around 40 per cent of key workers across the country are paid less than £10 an hour.
General secretary Frances O’Grady says they now deserve a pay rise as a “thank you for keeping Britain going” through the pandemic.
She said: “Frontline workers are putting their own health on the line to look after the rest of us. It’s time for ministers to give them a proper thank you – and that means getting money into their pockets now.”
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