Perthshire’s large tourism and agricultural sector is a possible reason for the county having one of the country’s highest percentages of people on the Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage.

More than 150,000 Scottish workers will get more money to take home thanks to this month’s Minimum Wage rise, with a high proportion of those living in Perth and Kinross.

Nearly 6000 employees fall into the two minimum earning bands, 7.9 per cent of the total workforce.

The Low Pay Commission (LPC) made the wage-rise recommendations which came into place on Monday, April 1. These cash increases amount to an above-inflation pay rise for Perth and Kinross’s 5800 low-income employees.

Those aged 21-24 who earn the National Minimum Wage will see their pay rise from £7.38 to £7.70, bumping their annual salary up by £624 a year.

And workers on the National Living Wage will notice a pay rise from £7.83 to £8.21 an hour when they receive their pay slips this month. The National Living Wage is the minimum wage for workers aged 25 and over.

Labour councillor for Carse of Gowrie, Alasdair Bailey, welcomed the increases. He brought a successful motion to the council in November which saw the Real Living Wage paid to council workers brought in four month’s earlier than the law asked.

Cllr Bailey said: “Perth and Kinross Council announced its employees would not have to wait until April to begin getting a jump in the Real Living Wage, their pay moved up to £9 an hour back in November.

“The Real Living Wage is even more than the statutory requirement, it is based on a true picture of what it costs to live. I was pleased when all different political colours came together in support of the early switch to the increased rates.

“Had PKC not passed my recommendation, the rise would not be felt from this month, it would not hit bank accounts for several more weeks.”

Nationally, according to the Low Pay Commission’s estimates, equivalent to 6.1 per cent of all employees over the age of 16 are earning the minimum wage. And in Perth and Kinross that percentage is higher, at 7.1 per cent of workers.

Cllr Bailey, who is member for Carse of Gowrie, a ward that relies on fruit growing and picking as a major source of employment, speculated that the high employment rate in Perth and Kinross might look good, but it risked the quality and level of pay experienced by workers.

“Only eight other areas in Scotland have bigger swathes of the workforce stuck on what’s an indicator of the bottom rung of the wages ladder, than we do in Perth and Kinross,” he observed. “The various rises are good news, but we have a lot of people in the county only just getting enough to support themselves.”

The Scottish region with the most people on the Minimum Wage or the National Living Wage is South Ayrshire, where 11.8 per cent of workers over the age of 16 get one of these pay thresholds.

One in 10 workers in Renfrewshire (10.4 per cent), and East Dunbartonshire (10 per cent) are in the country’s lowest paid jobs.