WORKING-class people have to work more to “achieve that which is gifted to others,” a Labour MP warned today, after new research reported a £6,700 “class pay-gap” in Britain.

The Social Mobility Foundation said professionals from working-class backgrounds are being paid an average of £6,718 less than peers from middle-class backgrounds, effectively working for free nearly one day in every seven.

According to the group’s study, the pay disparity increased when the working-class professionals were women or ethnic minorities, giving them a “double disadvantage.”

Working-class women are paid on average £9,450 less than their male colleagues, even when they are both working in higher professional-managerial positions, the report said.

People who are of Bangladeshi or black Caribbean heritage are paid on average £10,432 and £8,770 less respectively than their white peers in the same jobs, the report added.

Speaking to the Morning Star, Labour MP Ian Lavery said: “It appears that despite the commitment and dedication from working-class people to better themselves, climbing the ladder no longer provides the deserved rewards — unless of course you come from a privileged background.

“Working-class people continue to have those social barriers firmly built and placed in front of natural progression — sadly we are experiencing an increase in this inequality.

“Working people have to work even harder to achieve that which is gifted to others.”

Northern Ireland and London have the biggest pay gaps, the research said, compared with less of a disparity in the Midlands and Scotland.

Social Mobility Foundation chief executive Sarah Atkinson said: “In Britain, it still — quite literally — pays to be privileged.

“The existence of a class pay gap shows that Britain remains a deeply unequal society.

“The cost-of-living crisis and the pandemic will be a hammer blow to social mobility.

“We urge the government to demonstrate decisive leadership by launching a consultation on creating a register for class pay gap reporting.”

Ms Atkinson called for employers to collect socioeconomic data about their staff as a “starting point towards finding solutions.”

Consulting firms PWC and KPMG already collect such data on their employees.