29.5k earnings who are you and how?!

[AtSea1979]

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?

And my service manager started off as admin, on a temp contract doing filing in the back office of a MH team. Within seven years he went from band 2 to band 7.

Just to rile everybody, I can only think of a handful of people I know who earn less than £29.5k.
All in childcare. None in London, all in my local area (south, rural)

I work in London. Graduate starting salaries at my company are in the mid 20s I think (I don't have any recent graduates in my team). My assistant earns around £40k. My most junior team member (late 20s) is in mid £60k.

When I lived in the southwest, I'd have thought £29.5k was a very decent wage though, given that most jobs round there were v low paid. All the big money is in London/south east.

The mode is often the most informative.

If an alien was asking how many legs the average human has, telling them it was just a bit less than 2 (because no one has 3 but lots of people have 1 or none) wouldn't give them a very accurate picture of the species.

I suppose it's all about what you are trying to find out.

I misread the thread title and thought it said earrings not earnings. I clicked hoping to see a pic of the earrings ...

I’ll get me coat...

The mode is often the most informative.

It depends what you're actually trying to determine when you take an average. As PP have rightly observed, the modal wage is probably the minimum wage, which doesn't really tell you anything whatsoever about income distribution. We already know the job market is effectively a pyramid structure with the most low-skilled and low-waged roles and the least extremely high-paying roles. Mean and median salary both tell us different, useful things about income distribution.

On the other hand, if you want to know how many legs a species typically has then you want the mode. It also depends on whether the data you're analysing are discrete or continuous etc (salary naturally goes to decimal points, legs do not).

Here is my rough history:

Age 21: finish university, technical degree.
Age 21: generic IT dogsbody for small biz in the midlands: 16k
Age 22: IT phone support night shift for global IT company learning new skills as I go: £17k
Age 23: made redundant. Moved to London couldn't find jobs in Midlands. IT phone support for small business in niche sector: £22k
Age 25: promotion to helpdesk manager £25, then £27k for performance. I kept asking for pay rises (my colleagues didn't and were exploited in my opinion, one was on £13k and way more skilled than me)
Age 26: Took a punt on a job for large IT org, blagged it somewhat: £35k (I thought I had made it until I realised what others were earning!)
Age 30: Moved across London and got a similar if more challenging and niche role that was heading towards management level requiring diverse IT knowledge: £42k
Various pay increases over the years up to £47k at same org
Age 35: Got a job I didn't expect to get in a different org, same sector very similar role more senior and demanding: £56k
Age 37: after a couple of performance raises and 2% pay rises: £60k

Pay increases at this level are exponential. It's pretty unfair!
I remember struggling like hell trying to live in london on under £30k
I would say the £37 to £42k levels were a nice balance, I could start to think about saving for a deposit to buy something small (in a couple) in the commuter belt and the job wasn't too stressful.
The later salary levels became incredibly stressful. I am putting up with it because the disposable income is enormous so trying to save all I can while I am this lucky. But I won't last on it and have no desire at all to go into the next level senior management, £75k and up. I would end up dead from stress. I can't hack it - others can.
I'm not sure there's a secret other than spotting opportunity and gaining niche knowledge, keeping up with trends, sticking your head up and getting involved in extra projects and being a bit of an annoying git in that way. Improving things around you without wanting more for it, just seeing going the extra mile as part of the job.
And probably most importantly - willing to sacrifice personal comfort and relationships in your youth to move around, live abroad, change what you do and bloody wing it at times. Saying that I've been in a long term relationship since about age 25, 3 years of that it was a long distance abroad. It was hard but once that survived he was a keeper.

I am not the sort of person who thinks they deserve this more than anyone else. Luck, right place right time, some sacrifices. I started out dirt poor working class, minimum wage family on one income. Got to uni on mediocre grades, had full tuition paid and got a loan (which I only finished paying a few years ago).
I don't know if this route is still possible for kids today. Probably not unless they are very savvy about career choice and location.

I have a friend on around £18k in retail (London) sometimes she can’t afford lunch or fare to work ... her rent is £600 travel £120., plus council tax , elec/ gas... food & clothes for work and this is for a renowned national retailer ! There are more people struggling in London and Seth East than people realise so this isn’t a north v South divide ...
No one over 18 in London should be paid less than £10.50 hr ....

Store Mgrs earn between £20k and £150k+ depending on if a small store or a large department store... so you don’t need a degree to earn you just need to climb your way up and be willing to relocate to get experience ...

My husband is a night supervisor in a factory/warehouse and earns 30k pa.

I'm a ward sister in a specialist area and my FTE is 33k pa I'm pt on 25k pa but with unsocial hours I tend to bring home 1800-1900 per month which is probably nearer 30k

With regard to teaching, starting pay outside London is still only £23,720 and top of the payscale is £35k after 6 years but a yearly step up the payscale (assuming your school uses it as it's no longer compulsory) is no longer guaranteed as many schools can't afford to pay it. Teachers outside London earning in the upper 30s and 40s will most likely have gained most of their pay rises before the demise of pay portability and automatic annual pay progression.

Insidetheapple people who have degrees are likely to have higher paid jobs because they take additional skills, and invested time in education, to be able to do.

Often they meet their friends and partner at or after university.

For example, I'm a doctor- we are (mostly) paid more than £30k because it has taken us 5 or 6 years of university, plus another 10 to 20 years of on the job training.

My friends (many from university) are lawyers, teachers/professors, economists etc., and my partner is a fund manager. They all earn significantly above 30k.

It's likely that your peer group don't earn as much because their jobs don't require extensive further study after leaving school. It is also likely that you wouldn't meet people with an advanved degree if you didn't go to university, so your view of normal is skewed towards a low salary, in the same way as mine is skewed towards higher salary.

It's an average...

Oops- AtSea1979 not Insidetheapple

Middle manager. £38K. Aged 55

i’m 35k as a nanny in central london but that’s after lots of experience top Quals and 50 hr week

I’m still thinking about this and come to think of it my manager and previous managers have all been on less than 25k, none of them have been under 40 and they have all had at least 15 years experience to even get that far.

@LaBelleSauvage I have a masters degree, I have teacher training. I earn 12k per year working full time pro rata to term time. I can only dream of earning 30k. I don’t think it has much to do with qualifications and mixing with people who don’t have any.

@transformandriseup but is your manager's job a role that requires additional qualifications or a long time training? Or could someone in the same industry with a bit of experience be trained to do their job?
If they're easy to replace, they'd likely be paid less than someone less easy to replace. It's not about time spent working

@AtSea1979 I thought teachers earned significantly more than that. My teacher friend started on £26k

If you're a qualified teacher with a masters... why not apply for a teacher job?

Not read all of the comments but I am a counsellor with the Chilld and Adolescent Mental Health team and on £32k a year. I have a masters in psychotherapy. Have friends that are community workers and teachers on the same salary as me. My best friend is a manager for a large retailer and is on around £36k without bonuses.

P.S. I said you view of an average salary would be skewed if your friends were not university educated, because those people tend to earn less.

I find it very unlikely that the typical person with a masters degree earns minimum wage, unless it was a job working only a few hours a week

Most people I know and those who work for me earn quite a bit over £29.5k. I work in media sales and live in Scotland. My colleagues in London earn much more!

To say it's not to do with qualifications is ridiculous and misleading. A commercial property lawyer is going to earn more than someone working in a café. There will be exceptions, but generally graduates and people with a skilled trade (plumbers etc) will earn more.

Have you any idea how many people are out there who have a degree and can’t get a job or a job relevant to their degree?

Will probably cop some flack for this but to me if proof was needed that MN is majority MC posters, I think this is it. No disrespect meant as, salary aside, much advice re children is universal and not predicated on wealth.

@WeWantSweet dear lord £29.5k+ Salary does not equal middle class!