YORK’s economy needs serious action to shake off the hold of low-wage, low-skill jobs, MP candidates have claimed.

Rachael Maskell, who is fighting the York Central seat for Labour, and the Conservative’s Robert McIlveen, centre, have said the city needs to do more to generate better-paid jobs for its residents – but have disagreed over what that action should be.

Ms Maskell said European models of education hold some answers for the city, She said: “Behind the picture book tourist image of York, there lies a low-wage service economy with a high penetration of zero hours contracts.

“That’s why the German model has lessons for York. We need to reinforce the link between further and higher education with the industrial base, which works so well in Germany.

She then added: “We need to reverse the trend, which has shown that the people starting apprenticeships in the York constituency are down from 960 in 2011/12 to 710 in 2013/14 – at the same time employers are saying it is difficult to recruit apprentices.

“The aim should be to bring industry into the heart of the city, following the loss of skilled workers from the rail and the chocolate making sectors.”

But while Mr McIlveen has spoken of the urgent need to make changes to help York’s economy, he rejected the idea that low-wage and low-skilled jobs dominate the city.

“That overlooks the fact that there are a lot of late-career, high-end professional jobs here.

“What York lacks is mid-career and graduate jobs.”

The key, he said, is making sure there is enough good-quality office space for burgeoning businesses.

“A big part of the problem in York is the terrible provision of decent office space, and what we need is a council that can balance the need for housing with commercial space.”

The Lib Dem candidate, Nick Love, right, said that while the low-wage economy is not an epidemic, it is prevalent in the city.

It should be tackled, he said, by attracting big employers into York, and by supporting the independent businesses already in the city.

He said: “You simply can’t instruct businesses to pay a wage to workers that their turnover and profits won’t allow them to do. You have to help those businesses grow to a point where they are able to do that without adversely impacting on their business.”