Overview of employee earnings in the UK: 2017

1. Other bulletins in this release

Commentary on topics covered in the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) is split between three separate bulletins in 2018. This is part of our ongoing work to improve bulletins. Other commentary from the latest ASHE data can be found on the following pages:

• Low and high pay in the UK: 2018
• Gender pay gap in the UK: 2018

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2. Main points

• Median full-time weekly earnings increased 3.5% compared with 2017, to £569
• Adjusted for inflation, full-time gross weekly earnings increased by 1.2% compared with 2017
• 2018 was the first time since 2012 that full-time wages rose by a larger percentage than part-time wages
• Median earnings among people not moving jobs grew by 5.2%
• Private sector earnings increased faster than public sector earnings for the third year running
• City of London had the highest gross weekly earnings for full-time employees by place of work, Rother had the lowest

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3. Analysis of employee earnings

Median full-time weekly earnings increased 3.5% compared with 2017, to £569

Figure 1: Median full-time gross weekly earnings, UK, April 2006 to 2018

Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) - Office for National Statistics

Notes:

1. Footnotes applicable to all charts in this bulletin can be found in Section 5: Measuring these data.
2. Notes notes notes
3. Notes notes notes

In April 2018, median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees were £569, up 3.5% from £550 in 2017 (Figure 1). The 3.5% growth seen this year is the highest growth in earnings since 2008.

In April 2018, London topped the regional list for median earnings for full-time employees by place of work, at £713 per week. The median here is £124 more per week more than the next highest, the South East (£589), and £144 more than the median for the whole of the UK (£569) (Figure 7). The high pay in London reflects a high proportion of its labour force being employed in high-paying industries and occupations, and will also be impacted by allowances for some employees working in the capital.

Median earnings among people not moving jobs grew by 5.2%

Among the countries of the UK , long-term pay growth has been highest in Scotland and lowest in Wales. Median pay for full-time workers was 87% higher in Scotland than it was in 1997, whereas in Wales it was 69% higher. This is illustrated in Figure 8 where the data is indexed to 1997.

Median full-time weekly earnings increased 3.5% compared with 2017, to £569

Figure 1: Median full-time gross weekly earnings, UK, April 2006 to 2018

Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) - Office for National Statistics

Notes:

1. Footnotes applicable to all charts in this bulletin can be found in Section 5: Measuring these data.
2. Notes notes notes
3. Notes notes notes

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4. Earnings data

A detailed set of data tabulations containing employee earnings estimates from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) broken down by aspects such as age, region, occupation and industry are available.

Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings: 2018 provisional and 2017 revised results
Released: 25 October 2018

The tables show employee earning estimates as outlined in the ASHE guide to tables.

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5. Glossary

Full-time and part-time

Full-time is defined as employees working more than 30 paid hours per week (or 25 or more for the teaching professions).

Continuously employed

The “continuously employed” group is made up of employees who appear in consecutive Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) samples, have a weekly earnings observation in both periods and are classified by their employer as being in the same job for at least 12 months in the second period. ASHE indicates that 81% of the full-time workforce remained in the same job between 2017 and 2018. However, the analysis is based on those employees who gave a response in both years, which reduces the proportion to 54%.

CPIH

The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH) is the most comprehensive measure of inflation. It extends the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) to include a measure of the costs associated with owning, maintaining and living in one's own home, known as owner occupiers' housing costs (OOH), along with Council Tax.

Standard Occupational Classification (SOC)

The Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) is a common classification of occupational information for the UK.

National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) is a minimum amount per hour that most workers in the UK are entitled to be paid. There are different rates of minimum wage depending on a worker's age and whether they are an apprentice. The NMW applies to employees aged between 16 and 24 years. The government’s National Living Wage (NLW) was introduced on 1 April 2016 and applies to employees aged 25 years and over.

On the ASHE reference date in April 2018, the NMW and NLW rates were:

• £7.83 for employees aged 25 years and over
• £7.38 for employees aged 21 to 24 years
• £5.90 for employees aged 18 to 20 years
• £4.20 for employees aged 16 to 17 years
• £3.70 for apprentices aged 16 to 18 years and those aged 19 years or over who are in the first year of their apprenticeship

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6. Measuring this data

All estimates for 2018 are provisional and relate to the reference date 16 April 2018. Data from the 2017 survey have been subject to small revisions since the provisional estimates were published on 26 October 2017. For the charts in this bulletin, the following notes apply:

1. Employees on adult rates, pay unaffected by absence.
2. Full-time defined as employees working more than 30 paid hours per week (or 25 or more for the teaching professions).
3. Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH) figures are based on the All Items Consumer Prices Index (including owner occupiers' housing costs) of inflation for April (Figure 2).
4. Dashed lines represent discontinuities in 2011 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) estimates (Figure 3).
5. Dashed lines represent discontinuities in 2004, 2006 and 2011 ASHE estimates (Figure 6).
6. Includes all employees aged 16 to 17 years and employees aged 18 years and over on adult rates, pay unaffected by absence (Figure 10).

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