This is how many minutes people in Wigan have to work to earn enough to buy a Greggs sausage roll compared to other areas in the country

Compiled by leading economist John Hawksworth, and commissioned by InvestingReviews.co.uk, it looks at where people have to work the hardest to afford one of the high street baker’s sausage popular pastry items.

Some 100 cities and towns across the UK were ranked from number one being the area that has to work the least amount of time to afford a Greggs sausage roll and 100 being the area where has to work the longest to afford one.

Working class Wigan comes in at 87th where the average person will have to work for four minutes and 31 seconds to be able to afford the snack.

London leads the list , the average worker there having to work just two minutes and 58 seconds, followed closely by Oxford at three minutes and 15 seconds.

This index, though light-hearted, clearly demonstrates the great divide in living standards that still exists despite the government's flagship levelling-up agenda.

Lichfield in Staffordshire, is named as the city where people must work the longest with the average person having to work for four minutes and 54 seconds.

The northern food chain, which originated in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and was founded by John Gregg in 1939, sells approximately 2.5 million sausage rolls a week across more than 2,000 shops with takeaway sausage rolls typically priced at £1.05.

Mr Hawksworth said: “In part the analysis is a bit of fun with the sausage roll standing in for the Big Mac as a standardised product to compare purchasing power across different places.

"But it also makes the serious point that there are very large variations in income levels across our towns and cities.

“These local earnings gaps are driven by variations in productivity across places that reflect deep – seated disparities in education, opportunity and infrastructure across the country.”

Investing Reviews CEO, Simon Jones, said: “Amid all the government’s talk of levelling up, a great divide still exists across Great Britain today with Greggs customers in some parts typically having to work 65 per cent longer than Londoners just to be able to afford a sausage roll.”

The index was calculated using Greggs sausage roll prices and local median hourly pay estimates provided by the Office of National Statistics (ONS).