Wages are just 83 per cent of the UK average

Workers in Londonderry earn just 83 per cent of their counterparts in the rest of the United Kingdom. In Britain workers get 82 (gross) and in Northern Ireland 33 (gross) more on average every week

An average Londonderry worker would still be 17.70 less well off than his or her colleagues in England, Scotland and Wales, even if they were paid income support for a single person aged over 25 on top of their own weekly wage.

If an average employee in Londonderry was paid carers allowance on top of their own wages they would still be 3.50 poorer than the Northern Ireland average.

Most workers are now employed in the services sector (84 per cent) partly as a consequence of the death of manufacturing in the Londonderry area.

Officials in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETINI) revealed the data when asked by members of the Northern Ireland Executive for a briefing on the labour market.

The request came in October when the Stream International call centre announced it was axing hundreds of jobs in the city.

The briefing showed that wages in Foyle remained firmly at the lower end of the scale compared to averages in both Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom as a whole.

Full-time gross weekly earnings in Londonderry stood on average at 406 in April 2009. This was 92 per cent of the Northern Ireland average (439) and just 83 per cent of what is earned in Britain (488).

The details were provided to the Executive in November 2009 in advance of a meeting with Derry City Council to discuss the job losses.

The document stated: "The majority of employee jobs in Foyle are located within the service sector with over 84 per cent in this sector compared to a NI average of just over 80 per cent."

Equally, the briefing outlined the extent to which people here are employed by the state: "The public sector provides a substantial share of employment in Foyle. In fact 36 per cent of employee jobs in Foyle are located in the public sector compared to an NI average of 31 per cent."

Government Ministers were also forearmed with information that at October 2009 the claimant count in Foyle stood at 4,813 individuals or 7 per cent of the working age population - this was above the Northern Ireland average of 4.8 per cent.

It has since risen again and over 5,000 people in Foyle are now forced to claim the dole for their livelihood.

Startlingly it was also revealed that the claimant count in Foyle rose by 48 per cent over the year (October 2008 - 2009).