To feel depressed that I’ve never and probably will never earn the National Average wage?

[Summerandgin]

As title.

I saw that the national average wage in the UK is £28,000. I have never and probably will never earn £28,000. The highest I’ve earnt is £25,000.

I can understand in London and surrounding areas for this to be an achievable wage, but it is a depressing thought that where I am in the country, I would say the average would be about 21-22k and only really professionals earn the national average +.

AIBU to be depressed about this? And to wonder what sort of job I’d have to do to earn that? I am fairly well educated with good GCSE’s , A-Levels and a Degree but my degree is worthless and I bitterly regret doing the subject I did (in fact I regret doing a degree at all) All I’ve ever ended up doing after graduating are essentially mid level admin roles.

Do YOU earn the national average? And if so, where abouts in the country are you?

Got a degree and started in my first role in London on 18,000. 8 years later same profession I’m now on 65k

Summer what's your Degree?

It always saddens me when Graduates say their degree is useless to them! How can people believe that when 3 years worth of learning ( how to write well, research, remembering key relevant information, social skills ) is useless for building a career. That's such a shame.

A degree is a major achievement which just needs to be repurposed into some kind of paid employment. It may need some thought about the type of role or industry where you can use your skills, but you have a head start at least.

Marketing... hmm I wouldn't hang your hat on that, it's so economy-sensitive, when companies need to cut back often it's their marketing budgets that are the first to suffer.

*NewYearNiki

Any professional should earn more than £25k. My first job after graduating paid £21k in 2002 and that was admin for the council hmm

But that's not the reality.

Have a look at what a new nurse is paid.

My first job was in London a paralegal. £16,000. I had 3 degrees and was looking to qualify as a solicitor.

Well bully for you with your admin job and watch the hmm your gave might stay that way when the wind changes.*

I don’t know why you have such an attitude. I clearly don’t have that job anymore- did you read that was my first post graduation job in 2002?

I’m afraid I wouldn’t call a nurse or a paralegal a professional in this sense. I think everyone knows what nurses earn.

It sounds like your education and career plans were a bit chaotic but that’s not the norm for most.

I earn £11k part time as a basic but with my commission, I now average at about £45k p/a working 9-3, 3 days a week. I put up with earning peanuts at first and managed to convince my boss the company would do better if we were rewarded well for it so he trialed it and sure enough the company’s profits and our income increased massively from it. I don’t have an a level to my name, I had a child very young and spent the first year of her life working like a dog to eat beans out of a tin in a bedsit without electric. In 2 years my life changed, it can and will happen for you so don’t give up.

I'm on circa 60k but I'm on a professional training programme post graduating... have 3 degrees plus post graduate fellowship so very very professional role with much higher earning potential as your career progresses.

However I have sacrificed a lot and people on these types of salaries often have a lot of career related costs such as professional membership exams (just finished a passed thank god), expensive courses, expensive equipment to do the job, often commute a lot so it's all relative but yes I accept much higher earning potential is a given in my role.

It all depends on your lifestyle. Do you own your own home. And do you like your job. What is the point of earning £40k in London if you can't afford to buy anywhere and can't afford to rent and face a long commute. LIfe isn't just about how much you earn. Though it is difficult being hard up. And you shouldn't be that hard up on £25K.

I earn above 28k but not by much. I did a useless degree and worked in low paid jobs a lot after uni to see what I liked doing. I changed jobs every 12 months or so for 4 years. I then hit on something I liked and after being in the job a couple of years and getting experience I moved elsewhere for a higher paid job. Then I did the same again. I’ve been at the same place for 8 years now and I’m a manager. I don’t think I can claw my way up anymore so I’m done. I’m in north Wales. My advice would be find something you like doing and start getting experience and working your way up even if it means changing company. I know a lot of people on a lot more money than me that are miserable as they hate their jobs so being happy is important.

Locally, SW UK, if you work in the underpaid public sector, you will be among the higher paid members of your community. When I was self employed, my work was global and I earned several times that, but ageism is a real issue in some fields, and I became old.

OP...didn't realise you were only 29. When I was 29, I was working part time in the evening with 2 smalls, and a useless skanky ex. What a difference a few years makes. Some colleges and Unis offer part time evening courses where you can do extra qualifications up to degree level. Or there is the Open University. Yes it is hard to study when you are working full time, and sometimes you will be burning the midnight oil to get assignments in, but if you already have a degree you will know that..
My DD is slightly younger than you and she is studying 2 evenings a week at college, has kids and a business.

I earn a fair bit. I did a career specific degree and post grad qualifications and picked a high paid area of work deliberately and mvoed hundreds of miles from family from NE to London and then moved jobs a few time which is always very risky and then started my own business (also risky as you can end up with nothing). Always worked full time even with tiny tiny babies and often at weekends. Sometimes through the night. It paid off in my case. I also did a lot of the stuff you need to do in my area too to get on such as committees, public talks, joining stuff, events - it's a right old bore to do and hate it but had to do it. I have had to do quite a lot of travelling for work too which is not much fun when you've small children.

The commute into London (when I have to go in) is at least an hour but all in all I am very content and the grand plan I spent so much work on in my teens did actually pay off whilst other teenagers were out every night getting drunk.

TalkinPeace - Thanks for that!! I'm rather shocked. I think I'm still on 2015 rates??
I will be off to have a chat in HR I think.

Wages in this country are bizarre.

I trained in law, earned £16k for a few years as a paralegal. The top partner there was earning £300k plus extras. I then got an admin job (non legal) that paid £4K more as I was desperate for more money. How does that work?

My friend is a nurse. She works 3 days per week and earns £35k per year. My 17 year old nephew got an apprenticeship at BMW and now earns £26k. Potential to earn much more as he progresses.

Then my sister has worked in retail for 10 years. She earns just above national min wage as she is 'just' a shop worker and has stayed in the same role due to children/other commitments.

I think if you get in with the 'right' company or sector there are opportunities to progress. It's just knowing what to get into & obviously some take longer than others to progress.

Still a big divide of classes in this country!

at poster who says nurses aren't professionals...tbh these days you need a law degree to be a paralegal too so at that as well. What is a 'professional' then?

28k as an average salary is so depressing. Would have expected it to be more like 40k.

What kind of job do you work in? Can you get extra qualifications or retrain? I wouldn't be happy knowing I could never earn more than 25k tbh, I think I'd find it hard to have any motivation to work for that.

Same here minus the degree.

Would have expected it to be more like 40k

Interesting. Is that because you know a lot of people on £40K?

Forestfrump
I would honestly suggest reporting them for NMW breaches first
because then the HMRC enforcement people will get you all of your back pay and stop them firing you for stirring it

I suspect you are not alone

and there is absolutely no way they do not know they are breaking the law assuming they are filing your PAYE online legally

ciaa
Would have expected it to be more like 40k.
How much do you think shelf stackers and cleaners earn then ?

45-50k I live in the NW. Hopeless A levels and no degree. I qualified as a nurse before you needed a degree and moved into medical sales. DH has a similar background and earns twice my salary. In a way we are lucky but also we work hard, don't complain and update our skills regularly. I'm always surprised how few people seize the opportunity to do this.

Also an important thing about salaries - which I'd hope was fairly obvious - a big salary say in London won't go as far as it would in say Newcastle.

My nephew is jealous of our Edinburgh salaries and was keen to move himself and his DW up here. What he seems to forget is that they have bought a 4 bed house for £165k whereas the equivalent here is nearer £400- 500k. Equally eating out in restaurants is nearer London prices than say Northern England.

So salaries can be relative to cost.

I'm an accountant who works in industry so I guess I am a professional.

I earn £40k (I'm 26). I got onto one of the top graduate schemes post uni and without that I wouldn't have had access to the opportunities I've had. I'm really grateful and have a lot of loyalty to the company I work for.

When I was growing up my Dad said he didn't like his job and that jobs you like don't always pay well so you need to decide what you want from life. I would have loved to work with horses, but the money isn't great and I know so many who work with horses but can't afford their own, or can't afford heir own home either. I like my sector/area of work, but it was chosen largely because of earning potential. My Mum and Dad used to row a lot about money and I never wanted any DC I have to feel how I did (I used to feel guilty having riding lessons because I wasn't sure they could afford it etc).

Money is not everything, but even if I was single without DH everything would be much tighter. I wouldn't have a mortgage I don't think, or at least it'd be veryyyyyyy right if I did.

I'm 27, live in NW and earn 30k pa. I have no A levels or degree but work in a pretty niche field related to international freight.

I've only been in the job since Nov and my salary previous to that was 22k so it was a pretty big jump. There is a lot of potential for earning progression in my current role so I count my earning success on luck. I know people who work 10 times harder than me who earn much less.

rookie
indeed, but half of all Londoners earn under £23,000

I'm always surprised how few people seize the opportunity to do this

Some peopel are just happy in their jobs, their life and some jobs are valued differently.

Jobs like sales can pay a lot. Not the job or lifestyle some people want.

the median wage is a more relevant indicator than the average one, and it's around 22k for all employees, so no reason to feel bad