AVERAGE earnings in York have failed to rise in the past year, new figures have revealed.

The statistics, presented to the York Economic Partnership, show that average gross weekly pay in the city in 2013 remained at £523, the same as in 2012, having risen then from £462 in 2011.

York council leader James Alexander said he suspected average earnings had stabilised this year because of a growth in low paid jobs.

He said: “Figures such as this show why better paid jobs and the Living Wage are so important to tackling the cost of living crisis and poverty “A job should be a way out of poverty, not another way to receive benefits because of low wages.”

He said the council was the first in Yorkshire to introduce the living wage, with the wages of 573 staff increased to £7.45 an hour from April.