Given that much economic activity in Hackney is within the 'shadow' economy, this number is certainly an underestimate Etui but is still extremely low figure compared to, for example, 133,800 in Southwark. According to the 1991 Census, the breakdown of employment was:

Energy and water supply 0.3%
Construction 5.6%
Public administration and defence 8.8%
Distribution, hotels /catering, repairs 13.0%
Manufacturing industries 15.7%
Other service industries 26.8%
Transport, communication, banking, finance 29.8%

This year, depending on which figures you believe, unemployment in Hackney stood somewhere between 11.1% and 20%, putting it firmly within the worst 10 local authorities in the country.
There is a sharp difference in the claimant count in the two
halves of the borough - 15.6% in the north and 5.8% in the South.

Trade Union membership and the unionised workforce

It is not possible to give figures for trade union density in Hackney. However, across Greater London 25% of workers are unionised (15% of the private sector and 56% of the public sector). On this basis, unions in Hackney probably represent no more than 20,000 people. That is still a significant number and there are certain large unions, notably Hackney Unison and Hackney NUT which carry a political weight in the borough.

Hackney Council also employs a significant TGWU membership and a smaller GMB. There are also unions, which though not based in Hackney, represent workers in the borough, eg RMT, PCS, BIFU HSA has members in Hackney Unison, HTA, Homerton Hospital, Hackney Bus garage, PCS workplaces, Hackney College NATFHE

What issues do unions themselves regard as key for any council election campaign Political fund donations

The non-unionised workforce

The vast majority of the non-unionised and low-paid workforce in Hackney is drawn from refugee and migrant workers. They are also the people who are not registered or unwilling to vote and yet are the most vulnerable to exploitation and appalling conditions. Immigration officers regularly raid textile workplaces in Hackney. With the powers of the new Terrorism Act behind them, and the political history of many refugee and immigrant workers in Hackney, we should be prepared for this to become worse.

'No sweat' campaigns

Unionisation drive through Hackney Trades Council

Wages and conditions in Hackney

According to the government's New Earnings Survey 2000, the average salary paid by employers in Hackney to full-time workers is just over £28,000. Hackney is one of only four areas in the country, which was noted as being statistically unreliable – they simply couldn't sample enough full-time workers to get an accurate figure. £28,000 is quite clearly far higher than the true average wage and will be largely accounted for by council and education workers, illustrating the relative strength of Hackney Unison and the HTA. It can also hardly be squared with figures that show a gross household income of £26,000. A truer picture is also shown by The Telco Living Wage Campaign, a 'faith'-based campaign which aims to persuade all the major public sector organisations in East London to oblige all contractors to pay at least the 'East London Living Wage'. Their figure of £6.30 an hour was derived from research at the University of London into the needs of families in East London and compares to the national minimum wage of £4.10 per hour.

Minimum wage for Hackney