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?

Apologies if anyone's already said this, I haven't read the full thread but I just want to post about the "average" element of this. When things like wealth and salaries are reported, almost always the "average" is not the mean but the median.

So the mean is what most people think of as the average - it's the one where you add up all the salaries and divide by the number of people. However, as most people have noted, that means it's very affected by a small number of people earning very large salaries.

The median is the middle value, if you were to order all the salaries from smallest to largest. So it's a better representation of what an "average" person might earn.

Urgh I’m always saying this to DP. He earns just over double this figure, and has done since he was about 22 (he’s 28 now) before this he was earning about 40k from age of 18/19 after his apprenticeship finished. He doesn’t seem to understand that most people would be so thankful for that salary, he thinks he’s a very average earner. I earn 20k and will hopefully be starting my own business soon so we’ll see where that gets me😂

I don't work as I'm a SAHM and have caring responsibilities for disabled DC, DH works full time. Our income is around £40k a year however it took DH sixteen years and several promotions to get to that point, he also works away now and again so it includes an allowance for that and this is considered a really good wage in our corner of the North. Starting salary for his pay grade when he began there was just £13k a year for full time.

yabbers if you have no kids and no disabilities/illness then you won't get universal credit unless your rent is really high. Tax credits are closed to all now and they were not generous for single people with no kids either.

Basically of you earn £16k and over, you would receive very little or zero extra help.

@Anerak you do realise that not everyone is able to go to university don’t you? There are many reasons why people don’t have a degree.

Add to this the fact that someone needs to scan your shopping, empty your bins and wipe your arse.

Non promoted Teacher earning 40.2k

I was earning £26500 plus car in 2000. Same job now pays between 23-5,000. It’s despicable

It’s all relative to the cost of living in your part of the country.

If DH moves to a different branch of his company and does the exact same job outside London, his salary would half. But then our living costs would more than half, so it’s actually fine. and he’d pay a lot less tax

But to me, 30K is not a large salary.

I think it depends what industry your in.

I'm in aerospace and that's a starting salary in my company.

Sounds about right to me. I’m on maternity leave right now but I’m on £44,000.

My 24 yo son earns in excess of £40,000. He’s not academic, heleft school at 18 with BTecs and took an IT apprenticeship. He’s now qualified and doing very well.

My future DIL who he met at work followed a more traditional route, went to uni and then trained as an accountant. She is a similar age and earns £45,000 but her student loanrepayments mean she takes home a similar amount. However she has the potential to earn a lot more than him in the future. He will probably have to do further qualifications in the future if he wants to progress.

He's got the potential to earn substantially more, if he's in the right technical specialism and works for big corporates. IT salaries can vary massively, depending on type of employer, specialism and location.

I must be the only person on here who has no idea how much their friends and family earn!!

No, you're not - I don't either. I'm just confident that it's more than me, including most of my nieces and nephews. But I made a choice which resulted in lower income, and I don't begrudge them their lives.

I'm always surprised that people earn less than £30k

Well, over half of people do so you must live in a bit of a bubble! How much do you think the people looking after our children and our eldery, serving you drinks, cleaning your office earn? It really does feel like on mn people only ever are, or associate with the 15% of earners!

I'm on just over that in the SE for the NHS as a health professional.

PookieDo me too! I have so much responsibility it keeps me awake most nights for 35k FT. Which I completely appreciate is a lot for many people.

However I have PG qualifications and work for a University where if we're lucky (and not been made redundant) we've negotiated a pay rise of 1% per year. Our salaries have barely risen for years now!

THis is about the norm here (South Coast) with many people on a higher salary .The cost of living is quite high here though ,Average house price about 300 k .Presumably in the North .house prices are a bit lower?.Money is only a problem if you spend more than you earn really

Sounds right to me as a median. Some jobs have the potential to increase; some don’t so much.
My DH is a teacher, in the job 10 years, 45k, south east but not London.
ExDH earns close to 100k in a high-pressured job in London with a lot of travel, mid-30s. He earned 29k 10 years ago, 50k 5 years ago.
I have worked part-time and flexibly in editorial since having children in my mid-20s a decade ago, so my salary has very much stagnated, and my pro rata salary is still 28k (outskirts of London).

I'm top of NHS band 6 salary, basic is about £36000 FT, over 40,000 with London weighting. (I'm part time). With qualifications and experience, earning over £29000 is pretty normal.

I earned that about 10 years ago as a newly qualified local government accountant in a city in the north east. I’m pretty sure my family and friends are all on more than that, and they’re mostly degree educated many with postgraduate qualifications working in the professions, eg teachers, psychologists, finance, civil service. DH’s family who are in a town about 45 minutes away - I don’t think any of them would be on 29k without a lot of overtime; none of them have done the same level of training or qualifications.

Depends how they've calculated 'average', total/how many, middle value, mode. The median tends to be the most accurate, it isn't unduly influenced by anomalous values at either end of the range.

NW, OTE around 22-24k (commission based)

the median in UK is about 28K that means of working people 50% earn more than 28k and 50% earn less the median in NorthEast is lower at 26K and higher in London at 34K

That still means that 50% of workers in London earn less than 34K and 50% earn more ; 50% of people in London are not destitute so they must be managing on around 34K

in the areas where median salaries are lower housing costs are generally lower too
ie the North East has an median salary of 26K and a average house price of £125K ie 5 times average salary
in London the median salary at 34k with average house price in greater london is over 400K ie 12 times average salary so you might be better off with 26k in newcastle than 34K in London

DH is on around £33-35k. He's an HGV driver. Long hours, but easy work!

London, around £27,000. Which isn't amazing as it's full time, I'm late 40s and have a degree. My career has not exactly been vertical.

(This is in a creative industry).

@Insidetheapple

I’ve just worked out that I have to earn £55k gross just to pay my nanny and the employers pension, employers NI etc.

Then if I add in the gardener, cleaning lady, ironing lady and train ticket, I need to earn £75k gross just to cover those costs. And that’s before I pay for housing, bills, car, food...

All the LOLz at this. ^ 😂

Made me laugh. Thanks insidetheapple