Feel like I'm on a very low salary for my age

[Painauchocolats]

I'm early 30s, and I have 2 different jobs with slightly varying hours so it's difficult to say exactly, but for a 40 hour week I earn 23.5k. in April it will increase to just under 24k.
Don't want to say which industries but one is notoriously low paying and the other fairly better.
I know I am above minimum wage but when I compare with peers, it seems like most of my friends from high school are on over 30k, and that I could earn a lot more.
I am applying for jobs that pay more so fingers crossed. My take home is about 1650/1700 depending.
I know it shouldn't matter as long as I am comfortable but just feel like I'm selling myself short. I think working 40 hours is enough too.

I'm 29 on 20K. It's depressing, but what the job doesn't offer in pay it makes up for by being fully remote with flexitime. As a lone parent that's an absolute godsend. And it's a publishing job that you need a degree for. I'm educated to post grad level.

Okay...

so your support role in a school is presumably as a TA which pays the minimum wage usually.

You say your 2nd job is one eighth of your 40 hr week so that to me means you do 5 hours ( 1 day) in a school.

The rest of your week in social care.

In a care home?

In a nursery?

in Occupational Therapy (prob not.)

I'm sorry but I'm struggling to work out why your work appears to be unconnected to your higher education.

You won't need a Masters for either of those jobs.

Is there a mismatch between your education and your actual job?

Thanks! Sadly not a route open to me, but good to know!

This sounds similar to someone who is a qualified teacher, or at least did a teaching degree.

But now works mainly as a care assistant and as a TA.

Your age is immaterial. You are doing jobs which simply don't require significant qualifications ( can separately debate the merits of that) and thus pay minimum wage.

If you don't want to earn minimum wage type salaries then you need to not work minimum wage type jobs.

The issue is with conservation work, promotion generally takes you into management and strategy roles rather than delivery. Yes you might get a better salary, but it'll be work that might not be as fulfilling/satisfying.
Over recent years I've come to terms with having a very satisfying, almost vocational career, where I earn just above average, have good levels of trust and flexibility and which I am bloody good at. It'll never make me rich but I do get to spend time out in nature and hopefully make a difference.

I doubt you work in such a niche industry that it's outing so you might as well say it.

Yes, that is a low salary but does your work have skills that lend themselves to further opportunities and/or study?

Lol, always read the whole thread.

TA and care work probably doesn't have much career progression. If you're in your early 30s you're definitely young enough to retrain as somethng else if you want to (or can). Is that possible?

So you're working in two notoriously low paid sectors, and presumably the role in the school is term time as well so salary will reflect that too.

So really it depends on how you feel about it - is the work rewarding enough, are the hours good enough, are the benefits enough to counteract the wages and you're ok with how much you're being paid. Or would you rather look for something else with your skills/qualification/experience to start a career with more opportunities for progression and therefore higher wages?

I'm a support worker in a nursery. I work term time and it's not a particularly taxing job (although definitely has its emotional/stressful moments!) so that suits me fine and I'd rather that with my lower wages than working all year round and stressing about holiday childcare, and a more stressful job.

You’ve chosen two jobs that are known for being very poorly paid. Making that choice for yourself and then complaining you’re poorly paid seems odd.

What did you do your masters in?

Well there's your answer. They're never going to be high paying.

I'm 30 and on 24k. It was my choice not to progress in this field as it's not the right match for me. I could make more money if I wanted to gain professional qualifications, but I didn't go for it and decided to follow different path instead, but it will take time plus I will have a baby in few months, so it won't happen any time soon. Do you have possibility to make some certificates etc. that would put you on higher pay scale? Is the job satisfying or would you rather change it?

Ok I just saw where you work, so I guess no chance of going up, as they're public sectors and not great re money.

I'm 38 and earn min wage + bonus, work 40hrs a week
In the NW and I can't find anything that pays around 30k without requiring a massive list of qualifications very specific to the job

I also was paid 25k for an entry level admin job in 2003 - in London - that was pretty typical at that time that I was looking

I think pay discrepancies start to become reay obvious in your mid 30s. In our 20s we were all doing apprenticeships/starter jobs so, even those in potentially highly paid roles, were not making much. I found that now we are all becoming more established, the differences in pay are massive. Personally, I went for a career I don't love but that pays well, as financial security is very important to me. My friends who prioritised what they liked doing didn't all end up with very well paying jobs. But they like what they do/ are less stressed and I sometimes envy them for it so there is a very real trade off.

I think you are young enough to think about your earning potential and switch if money is important.

Wages need to increase in this country.

I went through a phase of evangelically encouraging people to demand fair pay for their work but too many undervalue themselves. So I stopped preaching.

I earn 21k and I'm 42 (work in university admin) so you're doing better than me! I don't really know how people earn so much money as even if I moved up the ranks at work the top dogs are only on about 30k.

If it makes you feel any better I'm early 30's, work 35 hours and earn 13k. But the hours work around childcare so I don't have a choice about moving career's unfortunately.

It is fairly low, set your sights higher. Look into other type of work that pays better. Look at government - I work for the Home Office and we have started large recruitment campaigns recently with more coming up. Most start a bit higher than your current salary, but good pension, very flexible but more importantly good opportunity for promotion / career progression. I started on 16k 22yrs ago, now on 59k (I’m mid 40’s) but I’d like to go up at least one more grade before retirement

If you are feeling down about how much you're earning then it might be worth looking at your chosen sectors and whether/ how you can progress in these or move out of them.

Work in both schools and social care is woefully underpaid, especially if you're doing the front line stuff. People do it for lots of reasons - often because it fits around their lives/ children etc - they often have a partner who is earning more.

It's a shame that we as a society don't value it enough but there you are.

You have a Masters degree which you're not really using by the sound of it. Is there anything else you could do? If you want to earn more money I think you'd need to look at a career change or at least a side step - could you train to be a SENCO, a social worker, occupational therapist etc?

Or maybe look at more operational role - communications, HR, project management, finance... there are lots of options which might be 'adjacent' to the social care sector and pay more than being on the front line.

Isn't that below minimum wage? 😕

@otterlyr unfortunately 5 hours of my week are unpaid, I work in a school and have set hours but I'm expected to be in before that to set up and stay later to speak to parents etc. But my paid hours are minimum wage I think.

Wow. I bet your work is very appreciated too. I wish you were better paid for it.

About 15 years ago those admin roles were about 14-18k so I’m guessing wages fell post 2008