To be depressed at low level of wages?

[abacucat]

I am looking for a new job and wages where I live have fallen to what people used to be paid 10 plus years ago. Even qualified social worker jobs are starting at £24,000. I am not a qualified social worker by the way, just an example. But there are so many jobs asking for a high level of skills and experience, but a low level of pay. And the few jobs paying anywhere approaching decent wages, are inundated with candidates.

16k for an office job in central London? That’s really low, I was earning more than that a decade ago in a government office. And nearly 40k a couple of years ago as a PA in the City.

I haven't had a pay rise in years. It's getting harder to get by each month as all my bills seem to be going up and my food budget is creeping up with higher prices. We are not skint by any means but disposable income is going down every month

I don’t know how the lowpaid are surviving

That'll be why homelessness is going through the roof and we now have foodbanks.

Entire sectors are being demolished by technology, it's no good pretending that they're not. We simply do not need the number of workers anymore, and pretending that made-up jobs such as YouTuber or the huge industry that's grown up around propaganda - PR, 'Social Media Reputation Massager' - are in anyway a fit replacement in civic society is ludicrous.

Was it Harold Wilson who had a vision of actually sharing the benefits that technology brings so we can all work less? Instead our lords and masters are creating a slave race, so desperate to avoid the actual destitution we can see happening all around us that we will happily see doctors and nurses and teachers forced into ridiculous paid-tuition-fee contracts and to sell labour at a pittance.

It's getting to the point where actually working for a living is a mug's game and we'd all be better off selling drugs. This is probably why there is such desperation to bring prostitution back as a valid career path. This is not in any way a beneficial situation to either individual people or society as a whole.

I agree, Pebble.

The creeping tide of automation. Although who will be buying all the products if we are all getting our food from food banks? It’s odd that so many companies pay minimum wage - who do they think will use their services / buy their goods?

It’s strange that on Mumsnet on the “how much do you earn” threads, 90% of posters claim to be earning over £40k a year when the average salary for the UK is under £24k. And everyone who earns in the top 1% also posts on those threads!

DP has gone into town today and it’s packed with Christmas shoppers and the cafes are also rammed. Going out to eat on a Saturday night, the restaurants are all going to be full where we are. And it’s definitely not a rich city! The south-west apparently has the lowest wages in the UK.

So I don’t really know what to think.

There is a huge problem with the London economy being totally mismatched to the rest of the country. There's a lot of Londoners on here, and a total lack of communication regarding the reality of situations elsewhere in Britain - there were some genuine expressions of surprise from some people on here about how little we have elsewhere. I find it entertaining (kind of) that so much fuss was and is made of the problems of matching together 'rich' western economies and 'poor' eastern economies in the EU, when we have such a huge mismatch right here in the UK. The UK is not a rich country: London might be, but outside and the further you go the more it looks like a third world place.

PebbleDashed

Salaries in London aren't hugely inflated though. Public sector jobs often have a London weighting but minimum wage is minimum wage wherever you are in the UK. Bog standard admin jobs in central London are often paying less than 20k a year.

There are really big gaps between rich and poor here. That never bodes well for a country.

Nope! I’m a manager with 8 years experience and the agents I manage are paid just £200 a month less than me (and they live in a different city so the living costs are less). It’s insane!

Yet as Polarbear says, some have access to huge amounts of money.

We might need to remember the population levels of London and the country here and remember that those commanding huge amounts of money are going to be more vocal than others. They wouldn't have got where they are without being socially dominant in a society whose only value seems to be social dominance, and their success for whatever reason also brings them confidence.

Isn't this 'wage poverty' all over Europe as well? I'm sure the 'Gillet Jaune' are protesting about a LOT MORE than taxes.
Maybe they are all at the end of their tether.
We need to start doing the same over in the UK!

Maybe wait and see if the French actually achieve anything with their protests, before starting a riot here.

And here’s a thought: people from Bulgaria etc are still coming to the UK, because no matter how much we moan about low wages, it’s far worse over there.

We need to start doing the same over in the UK!

That will never happen. The sheeple all fell for Tory propaganda that people on low wages are so because of personal and moral failings - 'poor lifestyle choices' - and therefore deserve their plight and that they are a 'drain on the pot' if they're in receipt of UC or tax credits and the reason why the economy is stagnant.

And here’s a thought: people from Bulgaria etc are still coming to the UK, because no matter how much we moan about low wages, it’s far worse over there.

And those who do are usually coming on their own, leaving family at home to be cared for so they can live ultra cheap (often exploited by rogue landlords) and send the money back where it goes a lot further.

I think it's more that the gap between worker and manager roles has closed, I left my job as a manager to be a SAHM for a while, returned to work for a different company as admin. I don't fancy slogging my guts out as manager for an extra £4/5k a year, half of which I'll lose in deductions anyway.

@Appleholic have you considered looking at training as a probation officer? Once qualified it's about 29k.

YANBU.

My job is advertised as having increments (civil service) but it is a lie. No one ever moves off the minimum now.

For the hard of thinking AiryFairy
The word "depressed" has a variety of meanings including, but not limited to: mental health; an economic term used to describe downturned wages, economies, trade etc; a term used to describe holding something down e.g. keep button depressed for 10 seconds. And so on and so forth. Use of a term with more than one definition does not make light of anything.

YANBU. I feel physically sick with anger whenever I get my pay cheque from my PAYE job. It's less than I was paid 20 years ago for the same work but more experience and at a much more established company. And the hours are twice the contact hours, but we're only paid for contact hours.

Luckily I mainly live on freelance contracts where I set my own - fair - rates of pay. I want to ditch the PAYE job but it's one of those ones that looks great on the CV so I have to stick it for a decent stretch of time. But it sucks. And the pay at the top rises and rises. I don't know how it's sustainable.

I find this thread really interesting. I'm 26, so have no concept of what people got paid for the same job 10 years ago etc. My DM is a dental hygienist, and now I think about it, she's never really had much of a pay rise in the last 15 years. In fact she had had to go self employed and brings in less now.

I'm a Teaching Assistant and LO with a degree and ten years of experience living in the North West and my 'offical' salary is £16,400 a year. However, like all Teaching Assistant contracts these days though, this is pro rata'ed over 44 weeks out of the year, instead of 52, so my gross pay is more like £15,600. So you really don't get paid for those nice holidays.

The old year round contracts are like gold - I know colleauges who have been at my current school for years and won't leave because they know if they did they wouldn't be able to get the same contract and pay that they currently do, despite their experience.

The role has changed and has become more demanding over time too. I now regularly mark tests, guided reading books, plan my interventions and teach phonics lessons and cover when teachers are off sick / out of class etc.

I hoenstly think that TAs should be paid a salary more in line with Police Community Support Officers who get between £19,000 to £22,000 depending on their level of experience, compared to TA's who typically earn between £12,000 to £18,000.

Some people might disagree with that but I honestly think that would be more reasoanble; most schools won't consider applicants who don't have at least an undergraduate degree and experience, and it's not like we don't get assaulted like PCSO's either. In my time I've been kicked in the face, had a chair and other things thrown at me, been swore at, spat at etc.

You're always ill too because parents insist on sending their sick kids to school.

When I think about it, 15k really isn't worth all that but I love my job and the kids and I know there really isn't any more money, not when our budget has been cut for the 8th consecutive year in a row.

So yes depressing really.

It is depressing. I’ve just started a new job and applied as it was £3k more than my previous job and a step up but what I didn’t realise with jobs in education is that the salary is a full time equivalent and it was only when I got my contract that I noticed it was basically the same salary that I was already on but now have less benefits and more responsibilities. I do get longer holidays and suppose in theory I could work seasonal jobs as well but that has to be passed by the Head and apparently she’s against working elsewhere.

It serves me right, but I felt cornered as I had already given notice by then as had accepted the job verbally. And had talked about my exciting new job to everyone.

It’s only looking back on the online advert that I have notices in tiny writing next to the salary FTE but it was in really small letters less than half the size of the other text.

I do enjoy the new job which is why I feel so bad about feeling resentful about my salary.

That's rubbish @UnicornMadeOfPinkGlitter

I've noticed too OP that jobs are badly paid these days with no real increase in salaries .

Pay rises where I work have been 0.5% to 1% for several years now they don't even keep up with inflation.

The gap between min wage and admin roles is closing. Min wage will be £8.21 from April .

The situation is dire