Part of 2. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:25 pm on 14 November 2017.
I think, first of all, if we look at our figures, historically we have seen an increase in the rate of employment in Wales and a decrease in the rate of unemployment, but it's not sufficient simply to look at whether people are in work or not, because we have to look beyond that and understand what people are earning. We used to say that if people found a job then that was a route out of poverty, yet we know that in-work poverty is one of the scourges that we have. We know—we've heard stories of nurses having to use foodbanks. That's why it's so important, I believe, now, for there to be a loosening of the bonds of austerity by the UK Government, for money to be made available for the devolved Governments to make sure that we can look now to improve the incomes of our public sector workers, many of whom, of course, have struggled in terms of their pay rises for some years.