"The numbers of jobs paying at levels below the national minimum wage threshold (NMW) appear to be very responsive to the initial and uprated threshold levels, although the surveys indicate some evidence of a delay in the response.Part-time jobs are about five times more likely to be low paid as full-time jobs, while women's jobs are three times as likely to be low paid as men's. The latter is partly explained by the fact that many more part-time jobs are held by women than by men; nevertheless a full-time job held by a woman is about twice as likely to be low paid as one held by a man.The article first looks at the distribution of low pay over the last four years, and its relation to the NMW threshold, looking separately at the NMW threshold for young people aged 18 to 21. It also looks at the characteristics of those earning less than ten pence above the national minimum wage rate, and those aged 22 or over earning less than

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