When choosing a career, it is greatly important to understand what your job entails from a variety of perspectives. From understanding your working hours and employee benefits, to knowing your work etiquette and company culture, there is more than just your job role requirements to understand about the world of work. One of the key aspects to have is an awareness of your salary, and how it compares to similar roles in the industry, as well as across all jobs and sectors.
There’s no denying that we’d all like to get that end of year bonus or an extra zero (or few) added to the end of our payslips. However, unless we have predicted the next winning lottery numbers, the majority of us know this is not a reality set to occur any time soon. What we can measure however, is how our salaries compare to other average earnings across the UK, and if we are getting what the rest of the nation are for the same role.
RS Components have analysed ONS data to reveal the highest and lowest paying jobs across the UK. If you are considering a career change in the near future, what kind of salary can you expect from different industries?
Results reveal that the average working Brit earns £569 per week, equalling £29,558 per year. RS Components discovered that over half (57%) of jobs in the UK are paid under the UK average salary. So who are the top earners in the world of work, which industries sit at the top of the leaderboard, and which roles and industries pay less than the UK average annual wage?
The highest versus lowest earning occupations
In the UK, CEOs unsurprisingly top the leaderboard with an average earning of £97,083 per annum, which is a staggering £67,525 more than the national average. The average CEO also earns £21,228, more than the second highest profession, medical practitioner, who earn £75,855 per year, closely followed by marketing sales directors who receive an annual salary of £75,126 on average.
The lowest UK earners are bar staff roles, which receive an average annual earnings of just £15,072, which is nearly half of the UK’s average wage and 6.4 times less than CEOs. Following close behind is waiters and waitresses who earn £15,454 each year (£297 per week).
The salary data also highlights that whilst 57% of the 270 occupations analysed sat below the national average wage, 94% of ‘professional’ roles earnt above this, including roles such as legal professionals, journalists, architects and civil engineers.
Your age and gender makes a difference
The results highlight that industry is not the only differentiating factor for wage earnings, with your age also reflecting the salary you earn. People between the ages of 22 and 29 earn £4,747 less than the national average per year, being paid an average annual salary of £24,840.
The highest earning age bracket is 40 to 49 years, where the average salary across the UK is £33,246. The differences in wages between generations is a reflection of years of experience in particular.
Gender also has an impact, with the gender pay gap grabbing the attention of the media even more so in recent years. Results reveal that men on average earnt £4,144 more than women per year, highlighting how much more needs to be done in improving the gender wage gap.
The analysis reveals how the industry you work in, the role you perform, your age and your gender all are contributing factors to the salary you earn each year. How does your job compare to the rest of the UK and will you be considering a career change in the near future? Head to RS Components’ UK Wage Chart to find out.
