"Average wage £29,000"

[liketochange]

I've had an ad on my Facebook for one of those "your baby born on this day" type posters with today's stats, which includes the average wage of £29,000. I'm aware this is the average wage according to stats, but there were loads of comments saying that was wrong, "that's more like household" etc. AIBU to ask does £29k seems that unlikely to be average in your opinion? Do bigger salaries drag it up making it look unrealistic to most?

I'm in a small town in the NE, it's certainly not the average here.

Average salary for a fulltime worker

It would have said average household income if thats what it was

This is where the mode pay would be more informative, rather than the mean.

I live in a wealthy London commuter town so it's well below the average for here (although I don't earn that much). But that's how it evens out across the country.

Do bigger salaries drag it up making it look unrealistic to most? It being an average, yes.

Or, if you are a big hearner, it's all those low paid people dragging it down!

I think it’s more like £24.

Where I live, it’s more like £19k! There is no real business here though, retail, hospitality, a few jobs in the dockyard, the university, the council and the NHS. Unless you are a teacher or healthcare professional or maybe an accountant or project manager, you are stuck with badly paying admin or minimum wage retail or waiting tables.

Seems high, I thaught it was more like £19k

My grad scheme starting salary is 30k. Most of my friends started on something similar (if not higher), so it probably does average out. I'm in Berkshire.

I think it depends on who your friends are. Lots of my friends from university (mid 30s) are on much more than that £29k would seem fairly low - and really only apply to people working in the charity sector. Quite a few are on ten times that. Lots of my friends from school who didn't go to uni are on a bit less but those that have built up a career probably come quite close to it.

When I worked in London I was earning twice as much as I am down here. Which is depressing.

What do you think the average is, OP?

These might help, from 2011

www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/nov/24/wages-britain-ashe-mapped

and last year

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43729508

Or a weird moving thingy from the ONS in 2015

www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/nesscontent/dvc126/

It's not wrong but it's as meaningless as any average calculated from a huge range of figures.

It’s a mean average for all jobs, at all levels, in the whole country. Most people will earn less, it will be dragged up by the fewer higher ones at the top. This is how mean averages work. It doesn’t mean ‘most people earn this’

If you look at the median salary in the UK it's just under £29k. Median is literally the middle person's salary (so if you stood everyone in the uk in a line with the highest earner at the front and the lowest at the back and asked the person in the middle what their salary was). This isn't dragged up as a mean average would be so is obviously a fairly accurate figure. Obviously though these salaries aren't evenly distributed around the UK. Most of the highest earners will be in London where cost of living is significantly higher.

There are different type of averages that all mean slightly different things - this sounds about right to be honest.

I think there are many more people on lower salaries than there are earning more but averaging it out I would say this is about right.

My area has mainly minimum wage warehousing jobs so the typical wage is much lower but there are a significant number of people who earn more - like myself.

Basing it on ‘what people you know earn’ isn’t helpful either.

29k is the mean salary. The median is close to 19k.

If you think of it like this, it can help.

5 children get pocket money of £1 £2 £3 £4 £5. The mean is £3 and the median is £3. Now the child at the top gets his pocket money raised to £20. The mean is £6, but only one person is better off and most people actually earn less.

Mean salaries can easily go up without the people at the bottom (or even the majority of people) getting any richer. Sometimes, the calculation also excludes people who aren't working full time, which isn't really helpful.

It's so area dependent. Our office administrator (her first proper job) is on 28k so I thought it sounded low but I accept that my location (London) and industry (law) is a bit of a bubble.

The median annual income in the UK, according to the most recent Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, is £28,677 for full-time employees.

It's the median salary which is £29k so no it isn't dragged up by higher earners (the median literally means middle). It only includes those working full time obviously.

@Jayblue

No it isn't it's the media which is £29k (but only for full time employers) see here.

*median obviously not media!

@HomeMadeMadness I think the figure you are talking about is household income, which is totally different to salary.

PP have already pointed it out but this figure is the median NOT the mean so won't be dragged up by a few enormously high earners. It is however only full time workers and will vary massively depending on region.

Basing it on ‘what people you know earn’ isn’t helpful either

I'm never sure if those people don't understand statistics or if they just live in a little bubble and don't think beyond it.