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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Low earner

110 replies

Mondaymanic · 16/04/2022 02:10

What do you consider to be a low earner?
I was always content enough with my pay, always would prefer more of course Grin but generally not feeling hard done by.

Lately I've learned most my friends earn far more than me and consider my pay very low but I'm conscious their view might be skewed. I earn around 27k no children and partner earns the same. Of course I know this isn't amazing pay but is it not decent?
I love North in a v cheap area if that helps

OP posts:
Thoosa · 16/04/2022 02:14

It’s impossible to say, if you have a sense of perspective, because it really is all relative.

You’ll get posters convinced it’s impossible to live on any amounts less than six figures a year and posters who think anything above NMW is doing really well. A lot of people live in silos.

If you live where housing is cheap, and you are near the people and facilities that matter to you, you are winning in my book.

Hunderland · 16/04/2022 02:18

It depends on your outgoings - £27k with a mortgage? Do your friends earn more and rent?

dayslikethese1 · 16/04/2022 02:23

I thought 27k was the average wage (therefore not 'low')....I could be wrong.

MrsTerryPratchett · 16/04/2022 02:56

Cheap area in the North, dual incomes, no kids, that's good, surely.

It's all perspective though. When I was younger I was on slightly more than average in London but all my friends were minted. And in couples when I was single. It was a bit miserable TBH.

Mooshering · 16/04/2022 03:26

I earn about 28k, but that's about half what my friends do.

Monty27 · 16/04/2022 03:50

It's about your cost of living surely?
And quality of life if you enjoy your job and lifestyle what's not to like? Or do you want more? Do you feel fulfilled? There are so many parameters. Only you can decide.
Sounds good to me though 👍🏼

splintinfarentino · 16/04/2022 04:24

I'd not consider you 'low income' in the circumstances you describe. But it really shows how subjective this stuff is, doesn't it?

I think age and educational / professional background is probably a big factor. If you're early 20s and all your friends are earning upwards of £27k at the start of their careers, particularly in the NE, then you just have an unusually high-earning group of friends. If you're late 30s or older, then it's realistic to think that some of your friends could be in senior professional roles, so an income of £27k would seem comparatively low.

But it can work the other way when you factor in how the housing market has impacted different generations. My mum and I earn a similar amount. Although she's 25 years older, she lives extremely comfortably** on it, while it's tighter for me. By far the biggest factor is that she's in her 50s and has been on the property market for 30 years. Her first property was a 3 bed house in a city in the North, costing 24k, less than twice the UK average income at the time. It's worth almost £300k today, which is around 9 times the UK average income.

DockOTheBay · 16/04/2022 04:38

I would say minimum wage or around that is a low earner. Sub 20k per year.

PukkaP · 16/04/2022 04:46

I earn the same and I don’t consider it low. I live in a cheap area too.

Heracles1000 · 16/04/2022 04:50

@dayslikethese1

I thought 27k was the average wage (therefore not 'low')....I could be wrong.
Average full time wage is £38k
PissedOffNeighbour22 · 16/04/2022 05:07

I'd say a low earner would be less than £20k for full time. I'm in the north too and a few years ago would have thought £20k was a decent salary and not many I know would have been on that.
I'm on a bit more than OP but I'm older and only recently started to earn that (as does my partner - 2yrs ago he was earning £24k as a trainee firefighter). Of friends and family, I'm not aware of anyone who earns more than we do.

Furrbabymama87 · 16/04/2022 05:15

When I was a nursery nurse ( left 7 years ago) I was on 14k. My husband earns 19k both 40 hours a week. They're low wages. So I would say yours is the low side of average.

OutlookStalking · 16/04/2022 05:21

A household income of 54k isnt low in anyone's book is it?

I don't rhink 27 is low. Lots of professional nurses, teachers, Ots on that.

Most council jobs I look at seem to be 24-28 (working in SEND or supporting families etc , so skilled work.)

There is a huge mismatch on numsnet. And between different careers. Seems such a huge difference . I am never wuite sure where all this v high jobs are!

Yants · 16/04/2022 06:12

The definition of being a 'low earner' these days is rather skewed though, particularly where an apparent reliance on in work benefits is concerned, as 'low earner' mostly seems to refer to people who deliberately limit the number of hours they choose to work in order to receive optimum benefits.

YouTubeRabbitHole · 16/04/2022 07:13

I’ve just changed jobs, I was earning £21k fte at the top of that scale, my new job is £22.5k fte at the bottom of the pay scale but with increments over time it will rise to £26k which seems like loads to me. Very much work to live rather than live to work mindset here.

howthebellstoll · 16/04/2022 07:19

I think it totally depends what the job is/what education level you reached/what your responsibilities are. Without that it's hard to say whether it's a reasonable salary.

Dairymilk50 · 16/04/2022 07:30

Oh God please educate yourself. Some of us are on top up due to high rent and this varies depending on weather you in the North or London way. There is also childcare costs. For 1 my DC alone it costs £160 per week for a playscheme in order to get to work.

Before I was a mother I never worried about what benefits someone else was getting or why she was part time... it didn't occur to me in the slightest.

Also OP didn't ask about education and responsibilities which is BULLSHIT a lot of the time. Many have degree and they are working amongst people with no degree Envy

Dairymilk50 · 16/04/2022 07:32

@yants

TeddyisMydog · 16/04/2022 07:34

I wouldn't consider that a low earner either, I shan't write my exact figure as it's embarrassingly low but it's under 15k a year which makes me sad

Kingharoldshairstyle · 16/04/2022 07:36

You are not low income, but you are both lower than average which is about 32k a year for full time workers.

How old are you?

Mirrorball2022 · 16/04/2022 07:37

I’m on less than you at nearly 25k. Full time NHS wage. We are up north and my partner earns a little over £30k. We arent well of but comfortable. We don’t have kids. We have a low mortgage thanks to big deposit but overpaying. We both have savings, pensions through work and can afford to go on holiday and go out and about.

Friends are on minimum wage or just above, similar to me or a couple are on higher but you wouldn’t know it.

springsmiles · 16/04/2022 07:52

Absolutely depends on your outgoings.

I earn more but three children, big mortgage, and other expenses I don't always have a lot of left over cash and have no savings

Onionpatch · 16/04/2022 07:59

I think minimum wage is a low earner and then something close to minimum wage, maybe up to 25% more per hour than minimum wage is low.

So i dont think 27k is low. I dont think its high either. Just hovering around average.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 16/04/2022 07:59

Me, I'm on £9.50ph. So anyone on more than that is doing better than me!

My exh earns £60k and it seems like a fortune, we live in a cheap area and he has loads of spare cash.

likemindedarseholes · 16/04/2022 08:00

It doesn't matter in the slightest what you earn. If you can live on it then it's enough. I earn 24k, would like to earn 30k but it's not a huge amount I'm if difference in monthly money and I'd probably just spend (rather than save it) it anyway! The amount of stress that a 30k job in my field would be isn't worth it to me.