Reports that some six million workers in the UK are receiving salaries less than the national living wage may have already come as a shock to many. This may specifically not be good news for the government of Prime Minister David Cameron that boasts about its ability to implement a robust economic recovery. 

Keith Pilbeam, a professor of International Economics and Finance at the City University, has told Press TV that the issue of underpaid laborers is part of a larger problem of income inequality in Britain.

According to a study by professional services firm, KPMG, which was published on Sunday, about 23 percent of British laborers earn nearly £8 ($12) an hour – what is well below the national living wage.  Based on the study, the number of underpaid laborers has risen in the past three years.

“There is a certain section of the British population which is actually not doing very well,” said Pilbeam, stressing that underpaid individuals face specific everyday problems that are less spoken about in the media.

“If they face difficult times, they have to struggle to survive because they have debts, as well,” Pilbeam told Press TV’s UK Desk in an exclusive interview.

He further expressed regret that the British government is failing to properly address the plight of underpaid laborers.

“The government is so focused on what they call the wealth generators and keeping them happy … that they are forgetting that there are a lot of people well below the average wages and very barely survive,” Pilbeam said warning about the social impacts of this issue if it is not properly addressed.

He added that the children of low income families will be worst affected.

Pilbeam emphasized that the Cameron’s government tends not to worry too much about voters from the low levels of income scale.

He emphasized that chances exist the low income families will eventually prefer to be unemployed given that there is little difference between being unemployed and being underpaid.

“The government needs to look at the income of these people after tax and see how they are doing compared to the unemployed and what these inequalities are doing is actually making it more attractive to be unemployed because there is no incentive to work.”