Salary comparison is pointless?

[Mrspatmoressouffle]

Ive seen many fb/Instagram posts in the past but saw another today comparing nurses wages to footballers and while I do think that some professions are ludicrously paid like footballers or models, the money for those type of jobs comes from the industries they work within. Not to mention footballers are athletes who train every day and must stay in peak fitness/lots of time away from families so I would expect high pay for this.

I am working class and very poor so it’s not as I’m biased but it seems ridiculous to compare them as if wages of footballers and nurses are allocated from the same pot? Surely people can work out the government is at fault for nurses wages and not the football association? The government should be responsible for ensuring the NHS is adequately and appropriately funded.

AIBU to think this way of thinking is just lack of common sense and it’s pointless to compare them?

It is about questioning priorities.

A more meaningful comparison would be with other publicly funded roles like say MPs

I guess the difference why to me is whether you generate income. Footballers will generate money for a club. That's why they get the money they do. CEO's generate money for a company - they are paid highly to get the person most able to do that. Nurses while a very worthwhile job we could not do without don't generate money in that same way.

I don't think we should compare nurses with footballers, as you say it's a totally different industry but how about comparing them with politicians and taking into account the shifts and conditions of the job.

I know someone who posts content on social media for their local council. They are paid 37k for this as a new graduate. How is that fair compared to what nurses earn and the work and literal shit they have to put up with? Local councils and government pay ridiculous sums of money compared to the really hard workers who are on the front line of public service.

Are you saying nurses don't spend loads of time away from their families?

Nurses are always on duty. If they come across someone who needs urgent medical attention, they are expected by the RCN to intervene to the extent that is within their skill set.

I'm not sure there's ever a football emergency that requires footballer to interrupt their free time and kick a ball.

Oh, I agree there's no point in comparing a public employer to a private one, as the funding comes from different places, and a football club isn't going to pay for nursing salaries. But where the comparison is useful is in how our society values different jobs.

I am reasonably well-paid for what I do. I trained hard to do it, I have to abide by loads of rules - it's not easy. But I don't save anyone's life. I don't care for people when they are at their most vulnerable. It's crazy to me that my job is valued more financially.

It benefits me that the rules of society are like these. But I can see that they're crazy. Just crazy.

I’m not saying the jobs are comparable for what they do / sacrifice.
Simply that they are not funded by the same source so it seems silly to make out like the wages of footballers has any relevance to the wages of nursing staff.

Nurses should be paid a lot more than they are but footballers taking a pay cut would make zero difference to NHS staff would it?

It’s supply and demand. Why do people struggle with this concept so much. Premier league footballers are few and far between. Nurses are not.