'Too many in this city struggle': Mancs earn less than their neighbours... but there are signs for hope

Mancunians earn less than their Greater Manchester neighbours and more are claiming universal credit than a year before, a new report has revealed.

The annual ‘State of the City’ report has been released by the council, which shows that the median monthly wage in the city was £2,114. That is below the average for Greater Manchester, the north west, and England as a whole.

The data also shows that 6.7 percent more Mancunians claimed universal credit in 2023, compared to the previous year’s figures. It concludes ‘there are still high levels of people’ on benefits.

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“Our residents are facing many challenges,” council leader Bev Craig said in unveiling the report. “The cost-of-living crisis has impacted our communities, already some of the most deprived in the UK, and although we work closely with our partners to improve the lives of Manchester people, the gap is too large and there are still too many people in this city that struggle from day to day."

Despite the headline income figures being negative, the report has found success in the city. For one, 93 percent of early years, 92 percent of primary schools and 81 percent of secondary schools have been rated “outstanding” or “good” following an Ofsted inspection. Overall, nine in 10 Manchester schools have achieved this status.

Furthermore, rough sleeping fell by 17 percent from 2022 to 2023, the council said. That comes at a time when around 700 of 3,792 homes built in the city in the 2023-24 municipal year were rated as ‘genuinely affordable’ — or nearly one in five.

At the same time, the city’s population grew to an estimated 618,000 — up from 552,000 in the 2021 census. In response to the population