"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?

www.theguardian.com/money/2018/may/12/salary-what-get-paid-talk-about-it-makes-brits-cringe

Yes @isthatabloborwhat, you have explained exactly why it would be ridiculous to use the mean average to discuss income distribution. How fortunate then, that we are using the much more relevant median average, which does not have this problem, as has been explained at least ten times already.

That's what I make in London atm. I'm 23.

Really? I’m shocked, I know I’m out of touch and in London but I thought it would be much higher.
Would a family with 2 children be expected to live on 29k without benefits or would they get help?

In my area the average person full time earns 12k, we live in a small industrial town however some areas are more well off than this.

Would a family with 2 children be expected to live on 29k without benefits or would they get help?

Maybe some help with childcare costs and Child Benefit, but that's it. So yep, you're expected to live on that without 'benefits'.

Wow! I think I spend too much😧 I am genuinely shocked.

Average house price; £226,798
So you’d have to earn just over £56,000 to be able to buy an average house.
Your £29,000 would get you £145,000 mortgage.

Fowles94 national minimum wage full time would be 17k gross

TigerTooth a £29k household income would get you a very nice life in some areas of the U.K. granted in London it’s not enough to have your own flat/house but in some areas of the midlands, the north east, and Yorkshire for example (I’m sure there’s more) that would provide very well for a family with 2 children. It would be classed as a very decent wage in my home town. I earned way less than that when I first moved to London but I was (and am) single so I lived in shared houses.

SaveKevin hardly anyone can afford to buy an average house on one income though - perhaps a smaller flat, which is way below average house price for area.

Wow! I think I spend too much😧 I am genuinely shocked.

Really? The Tories have been in power for 9 years, they have utterly decimated the 'benefits' system, even for very disabled people. There are no more tax credits at all for new claimants and in a couple of years, there will be none at all. It's all Universal Credit and it's shocking. The thresholds have always been quite low.

Sounds very low to me

SaveKevin as we have learned from the misunderstanding of averages on this thread, average doesn’t necessarily mean most common. In the town I grew up in there are several 2 bed terraced houses for sale for around £150k. £220k there would get you a 3-bed semi, that’s hardly average in a colloquial sense is it? There’s quite a nice 2-bed ex council flat for sale down the road from me (South london) for £200k. Statistical averages will always have higher and lower options either side

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

According to the gov.uk website, the median household income for 17/18 was £28,400.

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/householddisposableincomeandinequality/yearending2018

That is the median household disposable income.

Take one small village. What is the average salary of the working residents? All it takes is for one person in that village to be on a multi-million salary and it totally skews the average. That's precisely why we use the median when talking about average salary, and not the mean. It makes no difference whether the highest earner in the village is on £35,000 or £3,500,000.

Median: stand everybody in a row from L to R in ascending order of their salary. Stick a flag in the ground half way along the line, so there's the same number of people "above" (R) and "below" it (L). That's the median. Now tell everyone on the R to move further to the right (ie increase their salary). There's still the same number of people each side of the stick - the median hasn't moved. Increasing the top people's salaries won't change the median.

Mean: now do the same - but stand everyone on a seesaw. The mean is where you need to have the pivot point for the seesaw to balance. Now make all those on the right move to the right, and the R hand side of the seesaw will go down. You'll have to move the pivot point to the right to get it to balance - ie increasing the top people's salaries will increase the mean.

I think it's sounds about right if you take qualified wages into account.

I'm on £19k as an apprentice...All my uni friends (graduated 2017) are on £30-50k with a couple of nurses being in the mid 20s.
My sister gets about £80k a year as a doctor and my dad £150k as a business owner. My DP is on £46k at age 24...

I think £29k is abominable as an average wage for this country tbh, wages need to come up across the board.

It's only the people at the top whose salaries ever seems to rise much. Many at the bottom have been on the same or similar pay for the last 20 years. Even if you give everyone in your company the same percentage pay rise, it's still very unfair. 2% of 10k is hardly anything, whereas 2% of 200k is a lot of extra money.

Average pay is completely meaningless. What is it supposed to prove? Wages have not been rising for millions of people, even if the average is rising. It just makes the poorest feel increasingly poorer by comparison. I am sick of this country and its bollox inequality.

BlackPrism - 29k seems very high to me. I can't even imagine how I would begin to spend a figure like that.

@mindproject well my mate rents a room in a shared flat in C. London for £950 a month so it's pretty easy to spend when you think of it that way - my flat would cost £1,500 a month if we rented it. My sisters car lease is £700 a month (a ridiculous expense I agree).

I just don't understand how so many full time adults are on similar wages to my apprenticeship wage and that's considered OK by the government. I would find it very very difficult to have a household income of £29k total tbh. We'd be fine but it doesn't sound fun at all.

I'm actually surprised it isn't higher as it means for the first time I am earning an average wage, whereas a few years ago I was well below average. Which means it's barely risen in the last few years

@anothernotherone not after tax and NI. Its £15k before tax.

It is fecking laughable / offensive that it is presumed that because I earn less than that I have no a-levels or degree. I have the lot, I have a job that requires a degree to do it and I still earn less.

I do have a mortgage and 'keep' a DH and 3 DC comfortably on that though (obviously get TC and CB)

black

My life is lots of fun, this weekend have had a night away and a meal out and, whilst not all the time, isn't a rare occurrence.