Median earnings for FT employees up 2.2%
02 November 2017
The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings in the UK (ASHE) shows that median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees in the UK were £550, up 2.2% from £539 in 2016.
The 2.2% growth seen this year is the joint highest since the economic downturn in 2008 (matching that seen in 2013 and 2016). Similarly the median gross weekly earnings for part-time employees also increased, from £177 in 2016 to £182 in 2017 (2.9%).
Revised figures for 2016 have been published and provisional figures for 2017. Key points form the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings in the UK include:
- Adjusted for inflation, full-time workers’ weekly earnings decreased by 0.4% compared with 2016. This is the first time since 2014 that there has been a fall in this measure and reflects a higher level of inflation in April 2017 (2.6%) compared with recent years, for example, in April 2016 inflation was 0.7%
- Earnings (not adjusted for inflation) in 2017 rose by more among the lowest paid workers. Earnings at the tenth percentile for full-time workers rose by 3.5% compared with 2016 and the percentage of full-time workers earning less than two-thirds of median hourly earnings has fallen from 19.4% in 2016 to 18.4%
- In April 2017, the gender pay gap based on median hourly earnings for full-time employees decreased to 9.1%, from 9.4% in 2016. This is the lowest since the survey began in 1997
- Median weekly earnings for full-time employees in the private sector were £532 (up 2.8% on 2016) compared with £599 (up 0.9%) for the public sector. While private sector median earnings were down to around 85% of public sector earnings between 2010 and 2015, the proportion has risen in 2016 and 2017 to 89% this year
- Median weekly earnings for full-time workers are highest in London (£692) and lowest in Wales, North East, Northern Ireland, Yorkshire and The Humber, and East Midlands (all approximately £500). In 2017, the median rate grew most in East Midlands (3.4%) and least in Yorkshire and The Humber (0.8%)