Clothing manufacturing has the unhealthiest workers in the West Midlands, new analysis has revealed.
An investigation into figures from the Office for National Statistics by BirminghamLive has revealed that those in the industry are more than twice as likely to be in bad or very bad health as other workers in the region.
In some areas, such as Walsall, as many as one in every 20 people employed in the manufacture of clothes is in poor health.
At the same time, workers in this sector are some of the least well paid out of any industry.
On average, people employed in clothing manufacturing take home just £14,771 a year, compared to the average of £23,474 a year for all employees.
Within some areas of the West Midlands, workers in other industries can be more unhealthy than those making clothes, however.
In Wolverhampton, for example, workers involved in manufacturing furniture are more likely to be unhealthy, with around one in every 20 employees in poor health.
Meanwhile, in Birmingham one in every 14 people who work in information services, such as data processing, are in bad or very bad general health.
Responding to the figures, Dan Shears, GMB National Officer, said: “It is scandalous that workers’ health continues to be so badly affected by the ignorance and inaction of employers.
"Laws were introduced more than 40 years ago requiring employers to safeguard the health and safety of workers.
“No one expects work to be risk free, but the risk should be reduce as low as possible then managed.
"We are particularly concerned about those negligent employers who know that their work is causing serious harm, and are happy to let the state deal with the consequences through the NHS.
"The economic consequences are profound - more than £14 billion per year. The only way to tackle this situation is to recruit more inspectors and for them fully enforce the law.”
