An average employee in London earns nearly twice as much as the equivalent in Liskeard, in Cornwall, research by the Resolution Foundation showed. This leads to a full-time worker early on in their career suffering a 5% “place-based pay penalty”, according to the think tank. The study analysed earnings data spanning all early-career workers in England, covering more than 11 million individuals. “It’s often assumed that people are driving these divides but, in fact, place-based pay penalties are rife across England. “A typical early career worker could lose out on £1,300 a year just because of where their job is located.

Source: The Times June 22, 2025 23:14 UTC