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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

29.5k earnings who are you and how?!

680 replies

AtSea1979 · 21/08/2019 10:11

BBC reports today say the average salary in the UK is £29,500.

I earn 12k but i’m part time (otherwise 18k). I live in the north. I can only dream about earning nearly 30k. I’ve thought about retraining but I wouldn’t know where to start as the job market seems so difficult.

AIBU to think the majority of people earn much less and it’s just the minority fat cats pulled that figure up?

OP posts:
Hopingtobeamum · 22/08/2019 17:55

I live in the north east, salary of £85k plus bonus but have an international role so I accept that I miss out on things in return for a good salary. It's all relative though and soon gets spent

PurpleFlower1983 · 22/08/2019 17:55

I'm a teacher, I earn 41k, DH works in theatre and earns around 36k. Most of my friends earn between 25 and 45k in various professions.

YerAWizardHarry · 22/08/2019 17:57

Scottish teachers ok £40K at stop of payscale without further promotion/qualifications

WhyBirdStop · 22/08/2019 17:57

Most people I know in standard non fat cat jobs earn between 25-45k , my neighbour is an assistant manager in retail and earns 32k for 30 hours, I know someone who sells kitchens who earns 50k+ including commission, neither are what I would call fat cats 🤨

WelcomeToShootingStars · 22/08/2019 17:58

I'm an engineer and earn roughly double that. But the starting salary for someone qualified in my industry is higher than £29.5k for sure.

muddymommy · 22/08/2019 18:00

I work 60 plus hours per week and earn arond £32,500 but it kills me :(

WelcomeToShootingStars · 22/08/2019 18:01

Oh, I'm up north, mid 30s and been in my industry for less than 10 years and mortgages are all paid off. DH will probably go part time consulting at some point soon and earn about the same.

Chesneyhawkes1 · 22/08/2019 18:02

When I left school with just my GCSE's I got a job as an office junior, think I got around 8k per annum.

Then I managed to get a slightly better office job, where I stayed for 6 years. I did get small pay rises but still was only on 14k per annum.

So I decided to look for something else as I was 25 at the time and felt like I was going nowhere. Saw a random job advertised in my local paper and applied for that.

Somehow out of 600, so I was told, applicants, I managed to get one of the 10 vacancies on offer. I did my 13 months training on starter wages and now I earn 63k basic for a 4 day week. Sunday's and overtime on top of that.

Was the best decision I ever made. Been there 15 years now and won't ever leave, unless they sack me 😂

chicken12 · 22/08/2019 18:03

J agree not many jobs over the minimum wage where I live

keffie12 · 22/08/2019 18:08

Our eldest son is a software developer (the computer industry developing the webpages. His company is in the leisure and hospitality industry developing of websites) he is 34 and on £40 k a year due to go up to £45 k next year on his performance rating for this year. He was 3 year at university as a mature student.

Our 3rd is training in the same industry. He will be a software engineer (that's the coding at the back of the websites) He is going into his last specialist year of this. His income will be about the same, so he will start on roughly 25 k to 30 k a year out of uni rising as over the years

Our eldest could get more money and work further up the ladder now. He wont change companies because he has two children to think about now and doesn't want the risk of a probationary period of a new job not working out

My point is there are higher paying jobs going which arent high tax bracket fat cats. We do live in the north

Doidoit19 · 22/08/2019 18:08

We’re in Yorkshire. I earn 7k but do 12 hours a week. My job on a full time basis is approx £27k but that’s shift and weekend allowance on top of a (just over) 20k salary. My husband is a retail manager and earns £25k. I have friends in the south who earn £32k on a part time (3.5 day a week) basis. But then our mortgage is £450 and theirs are £1000 so it’s all relative I guess.

millimollimandi · 22/08/2019 18:12

DH and I both work in the public sector (different parts) and I am on under 20k for full time - he earns about 24k. Yeah, you know, those 'civil servants on really good wages with a final salary pension' fallacy...

Oranginna · 22/08/2019 18:13

@Chesneyhawkes1 That's an amazing leap in salary! I'm intrigued. What sort of thing do you do?

Superleo837 · 22/08/2019 18:19

I work full time £43k north west age 36

EerieSilence · 22/08/2019 18:29

I work for about double than that but it's commute, business trips and I am working still - just waiting for laptop to reboot so amusing myself on Mumsnet. My work is also rather seasonal, there are times when it's mad and times when you can relax a bit but never completely. People only look at the money but forget that high paid jobs can be extremely stressful and people burn out in them easily. Not sure I would be able to do a routine job though, would probably go mad after a week of the same every day, every hour, every month.

WyfOfBathe · 22/08/2019 18:33

DH and I both earn above that as teachers. It does require a degree, but it's not an 'elite' 'fat cat' job and there are plenty of vacancies.

Remember that 18k in the north goes further than 18k in the SE. This calculator suggests that 18k in Leeds goes as far as 22.3k in Oxford, for example (random northern and southern cities)
www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/comparison.jsp

BionicEmu · 22/08/2019 18:37

I made the mistake of going into science, so I don’t earn around that. Most people I know here don’t earn that, the only ones I know of are public sector workers. Most people I know earn less than that, and that includes office managers, accountants, and a lot of scientific/lab staff. (I’m in West Mids for reference).

Honestly I’d love to retrain as something else in the hopes of eventually increasing my prospects, but I can’t afford the drop in salary in the meantime. It’s crap because I love my job, but the pay (& general environment) in science is just awful, in my field at least.

Nearly47 · 22/08/2019 18:40

In South East everyone I know earns that or more. Lots of people I know earns 50 K plus so it probably changes the average a bit. But life is much more expensive here too.

Theflying19 · 22/08/2019 18:41

I'm an accountant and earn that. PAs to senior staff at my firm earn at least that. Am in the North.

feistymumma · 22/08/2019 18:42

52k London

llamakoala · 22/08/2019 18:45

Age 29, earning 20k in the SE as an Administrator... would love to earn 25-30k but no idea what/how.

Oneandoneontheway · 22/08/2019 18:48

I work in financial administration in the North West and earn 28k plus around 1.5k annual bonus

londonrach · 22/08/2019 18:57

Nope not me maybe if i worked full time. At the moment i earn £10 after tax as paying for nursery so loose most of my salary. Its worth it though as keep job going and got pension and training paid for

Lolly86 · 22/08/2019 18:59

I'm in around that as a full.time nurse non NHS top band 5

Diva66 · 22/08/2019 19:03

Software developer earning 2ce that working part time on projects of my choice 🙂

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