Does anyone here have an ‘average’ job with an average wage?

[gummybearrr]

A weird thread I know but, whenever I see posts on here about income, jobs, wages, I’m just in awe, people earning 100k+ (I don’t think I know anyone who earns that??) and there seems to be so many, all with really good jobs too, no debt, owns their own house, I mean - good for your you’ve worked hard for this, that’s my dream but unfortunately not yet..

so, is anyone here like me? Never really had ambition to do anything when I was younger. I work in retail on checkout (or I did, I’m on maternity) earning min wage, Dh is a manager in retail and earns just a little above NMW but not by much, we have UC top up and private rent, we’ve nearly paid ALL our debt (yay)!!! But sadly don’t think home owning is something we will ever do, I do plan on going to college when DC is older to try and get a good job, (I don’t know what, I’m one of those people who want to do something good but with no clue as to what) but yeah, I class myself as extremely average, to which I’ve never really come across anyone really on Mumsnet!

this is not me slating these people - I wish I was you 🤣

I do, 24k gross. Husband earns a little more, not the wild amounts you see here but more - 45k. We bought our first house a couple of years ago. No kids or debt (besides house now) though.

Owning my own home was my dream forever too, was shocked when we managed it though lol

I'm unemployed, but before that I worked in admin for £50k WFH so pretty average

a 50k a year wfh admin job isn’t pretty average by anyone’s standards!

UK average wage is either 32,292 K or 37,648K depending on which quick random Google source I follow! My husband and I are each somewhere in the middle of those 2 figures.

The fact that it's the UK average suggests there's lots like us!

I do. Not an ambitious person. I pack fish products for supermarkets. Just above minimum wage. Dh is a warehouse Operative.

I do- I work in a kitchen. Minimum wage.

I'm a SAHM and my OH earns about £30k a year. Pretty average lifestyle x

I'm a sahm at the moment but when I do find a job it will be minimum wage. My DH is a forklift driver on 27.5k. I don't know anyone who earns £100k plus either. I think because of the demographic on here, there are a lot of high earning posters. Though I'd imagine there are a lot who are exactly like us too

Yep, I work for a women's charity helping women who have experienced DV. I work part time but if I was full time I'd be on £28k which is pretty standard for the charity sector.

Me too. I work 2 days a week WFH in insurance and earn about £18,000 a year, my other half works in retail and earns about £40,000 x

50k is not average by any stretch😅

I do - specialist admin wfh, 35k.

We do own a house, purely possible because one of us got a PPI payment, and the other got made redundant, so we had a deposit.

Really stood out to me how different a lot of posters circumstances were, when I asked for advice on how to stick out the awful job I was going to be made redundant from until I got the money. I was told that £5k wasn't worth anything and it was pointless and dishonest to stay!

Us too! I was a SAHM and had PT jobs while working around hubby.Now early retirement .I dont know anyone earning this either! I think this is a home Counties /London based site. and attracts high achieving Career women so not typical of much of Britain really .Still excellent site for everyone though

I’d like one of those wfh 50k admin jobs!

I know one family who earn well into 6 figures between them. They are lovely, and very down to earth. They have a lovely house, nice holiday's etc. But they do work incredibly hard and long hours.
We are average earners, could possibly earn a bit more by working more hours but we prioritise our free time. Some people are lucky to have both money and free time, but for most it’s one or the other.

This is such a tricky question because I also consider myself to be “average”. I make £55k, DH makes £35k so neither of us are on mega bucks. We own a small three bed end of terraced house with a garage and carry about £6k of debt from some kitchen finance. We are hoping to move in the next year however.

I consider that to be pretty bog standard - incomes aren’t particularly high, house is modest. Looking around most of my peers and siblings/cousins have similar or are doing better than us.

What true “average” is, I’m not sure.

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut are there any jobs going with your company? I’ve worked in admin for years, would love to wfh

Such an important job, and woefully underpaid for the work you do, like most public services / charity sector.

I am in my fifties and earn around 27k full time. All my friends of a similar age earn similar. maybe that's why we are all still working as I guess most earning significantly more retire earlier. In my friendship group the higher earners have already retired with good pensions ! Ido get a bit upset when I see my 24 year old son earning 20k more than me( not sad for him ! ) as that is a salary I have never ever earned. To be honest though I feel lucky that I have lived in a time when it has been possible to buy a house on two modest incomes ( dh has never been a high earner either ).

I worked an average job, more than NMW but nowhere near 100k until my son became disabled due to a complication of an illness and now I'm on UC and don't work at all.

I used to rent privately but now in social housing. No hope of buying.

Meant to add we are both on around £27k so very average

This is a refreshing thread!

I work 20 hours a week from home doing admin, and earn about £15k. I love it, total flexibility and very minimal stress.

DH earns £30k as a bookkeeper.

We have a three bed terrace in a lovely area (but reasonably cheap part of the country), a car each and a UK holiday each year. Two primary aged DC. Not loads of spare cash but very much comfortable, and we save about £500 per month.

We are actually the anomaly in our group of friends, who mostly have large detached houses and high flying careers - but also a lot more stress and less free time. Absolutely nothing would convince me to swap!

I'm a sahm but when I worked (in a job that required a Masters!) I didn't earn more than £38k. It was a factor in deciding to be a sahm given childcare costs.

I did buy a house, because I was lucky to have a friend in a similar situation. I could never have afforded it alone.

Minimum wage isn't average, it's below average. Average is about 36k like a pp said.

Average wage is what (for example) a teacher or nurse typically gets.

Don't forget salaries aren't a bell curve. When we talk about average salary we usually mean median, so half the population earns more and half earns less. But many people who earn more earn a lot more. So if you earn median salary you might feel poor.

To illustrate: if you take 5 random people, the spread might be 28k, 29k, 36k, 70k, 200k.

36k is the median salary but the mean is way more. So if those 5 people know each other, 3 of them would feel poor, the 70k earner would feel like they're in the middle, and the 200k earner would feel rich.

This all explains why the 50k earner upthread thinks she's "average". She's way above median but doesn't feel rich

I work in admin earning £29k, DH works for a builders’ merchant earning £40k.

We’ve only just got to those pay levels though in our mid 40s. I worked many years in retail on min wage and DH has worked his way up.

We privately rent and have given up any hope of owning our own property.

I think that the average wage figures are bought about by the large number of people on minimum wage and a very few on extremely high salaries.

But yes, DH and I are retired now but previously our salaries would have been my admin job at the lower end of this scale (although I earned less as PT) and DH’s job in manufacturing just above the higher level of ‘average’ noted here.

Most of my friends earn(ed) similar to me as they tend to be people I worked with at one time. Their parters mainly earned similar or a little more .