ONS figures reveal best-paid jobs and earnings growth
Brokers, chief executives and pilots enjoyed a fruitful 2014, taking home the largest pay packets according to the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
A tiny payrise for most of us
The survey revealed that gross weekly earnings for full-time employees increased £518 in April 2014. That's up by just £1 on 2013, making it the smallest annual growth since 1997.
In fact, when you take inflation into account, weekly earnings actually fell by 1.6% compared to the previous year. This downward trend has been going on since 2008.
Highs and lows
[SPOTLIGHT]The survey reveals the highest and lowest earning jobs in the country. In 2014, the bottom 10% of full-time employees were earning less than £288 a week, while the top 10% earned over £1,024.
The 10 highest-earning occupations are set out below. All earnings referred to in the table are the mean, gross figures for full-time workers (so before tax is paid), so they aren't equal to take-home pay.
|
Occupation |
Earnings |
|
Brokers |
£151,640 |
|
Chief executives and senior officials |
£114,137 |
|
Aircraft pilots and flight engineers |
£94,179 |
|
Marketing and sales directors |
£89,323 |
|
Information technology and telecommunications directors |
£86,546 |
|
Advertising and public relations directors |
£84,496 |
|
Financial institution managers and directors |
£84,231 |
|
Financial managers and directors |
£82,769 |
|
Legal professionals |
£80,025 |
|
Medical practitioners |
£78,755 |
|
Functional managers and directors |
£77,147 |
|
Air traffic controllers |
£76,949 |
Source: ONS
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Lowest earners
Meanwhile, the jobs that have the lowest average incomes mostly consist of jobs in the hospitality, retail and cleaning industries. Again, all figures in the table below refer to full-time workers’ earnings, before tax.
|
Occupation |
Earnings |
|
Waiters and waitresses |
£12,730 |
|
Bar staff |
£13,160 |
|
Kitchen and catering assistants |
£13,509 |
|
Other elementary service occupations |
£13,578 |
|
Launderers, dry cleaners and pressers |
£14,432 |
|
Leisure and theme park attendants |
£14,517 |
|
Retail cashiers and check-out operators |
£14,560 |
|
Cleaners and domestics |
£14,693 |
|
Hairdressers and barbers |
£14,783 |
|
Playworkers |
£14,937 |
Source: ONS
Changes since last year
While inflation-adjusted earnings have fallen, certain occupational groups have seen huge rises in their salaries. For example, the mean average earnings of advertising and public relations directors has shot up by 29.9% to £84,496, while information technology and telecommunications directors’ pay rose by 24.9% to £86,546.
Rail construction and maintenance operatives, on the other hand, have seen a 12.9% decrease in their pay on average, while pub owners and managers faced a 10.6% drop in their earnings.
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