Labour Stats: How much we work, and how much we earn

Two key pieces of information most of us care about when it comes to our jobs. How much will we earn? And how many hours will we work? And... how does this compare to other people? Here, we've carved out stats related to these two key areas of interest for UK workers. See the trends and how you compare.

Average UK earnings

The average amount earned per week was £666 in November 2023, an increase of 5% from a year earlier. Of this, around £40 (or around £2,000 per year) is from bonuses.

Private sector employees earn a touch more, at £671 per week, while public sector staff earn an average of £648.

Unsurprisingly, the highest-paying sector is 'Finance and Business Services', where people earn an average of £901 weekly (£46,800 annually). Compare this to 'Wholesaling, retailing, hotels & restaurants', where people earn less than half this, or £440 a week (£22,900 a year).

We all know that inflation is taking a bite out of our finances. Has pay kept up? Let's take a look at the pay trends from the past 10 years to see what's happening.

Chart showing average weekly pay in Great Britain

On an annual basis, we're earning around £10,000 more a year now (£34,622 vs £24,319 ten years ago).

So the good news it, yes, we are earning more now—about 42% more than we earned 10 years ago. But is this enough? How does it compare to inflation? Due to inflation (specifically, using the RPI All Items Index), the price of things has increased by 49% over the same time period (the past 10 years). Hrrmmm. It's no surprise we're feeling the pinch. Wages haven't risen as much as our living costs.

Here's all of the weekly wage data going back 10 years, if you'd like to look at the details:

Average pay by month and yearWeeklyAnnually
Dec 2013£468£24,319
Jan 2014£469£24,392
Feb 2014£472£24,534
Mar 2014£461£23,993
Apr 2014£469£24,405
May 2014£469£24,406
Jun 2014£470£24,426
Jul 2014£468£24,321
Aug 2014£469£24,411
Sep 2014£473£24,590
Oct 2014£475£24,689
Nov 2014£475£24,692
Dec 2014£478£24,880
Jan 2015£476£24,731
Feb 2015£478£24,881
Mar 2015£480£24,971
Apr 2015£481£25,025
May 2015£482£25,050
Jun 2015£481£24,999
Jul 2015£484£25,163
Aug 2015£484£25,184
Sep 2015£483£25,101
Oct 2015£484£25,144
Nov 2015£484£25,189
Dec 2015£487£25,318
Jan 2016£489£25,428
Feb 2016£486£25,262
Mar 2016£490£25,472
Apr 2016£495£25,755
May 2016£493£25,642
Jun 2016£493£25,640
Jul 2016£496£25,784
Aug 2016£494£25,713
Sep 2016£495£25,730
Oct 2016£497£25,836
Nov 2016£498£25,911
Dec 2016£496£25,791
Jan 2017£497£25,862
Feb 2017£499£25,960
Mar 2017£501£26,071
Apr 2017£502£26,107
May 2017£503£26,172
Jun 2017£508£26,419
Jul 2017£504£26,208
Aug 2017£507£26,342
Sep 2017£509£26,461
Oct 2017£509£26,452
Nov 2017£510£26,505
Dec 2017£512£26,611
Jan 2018£510£26,544
Feb 2018£513£26,667
Mar 2018£513£26,692
Apr 2018£515£26,798
May 2018£516£26,841
Jun 2018£519£26,984
Jul 2018£521£27,077
Aug 2018£523£27,204
Sep 2018£523£27,210
Oct 2018£530£27,570
Nov 2018£526£27,338
Dec 2018£528£27,458
Jan 2019£530£27,555
Feb 2019£531£27,627
Mar 2019£525£27,313
Apr 2019£534£27,789
May 2019£537£27,937
Jun 2019£540£28,058
Jul 2019£542£28,173
Aug 2019£541£28,136
Sep 2019£544£28,292
Oct 2019£543£28,234
Nov 2019£542£28,206
Dec 2019£542£28,159
Jan 2020£546£28,410
Feb 2020£546£28,391
Mar 2020£529£27,533
Apr 2020£529£27,532
May 2020£532£27,652
Jun 2020£532£27,642
Jul 2020£541£28,146
Aug 2020£552£28,722
Sep 2020£558£29,041
Oct 2020£563£29,298
Nov 2020£568£29,529
Dec 2020£570£29,634
Jan 2021£570£29,639
Feb 2021£567£29,497
Mar 2021£552£28,712
Apr 2021£576£29,960
May 2021£581£30,223
Jun 2021£577£30,026
Jul 2021£581£30,203
Aug 2021£584£30,362
Sep 2021£586£30,453
Oct 2021£588£30,580
Nov 2021£587£30,546
Dec 2021£603£31,371
Jan 2022£599£31,163
Feb 2022£600£31,187
Mar 2022£608£31,611
Apr 2022£604£31,412
May 2022£606£31,519
Jun 2022£613£31,899
Jul 2022£614£31,945
Aug 2022£619£32,208
Sep 2022£621£32,285
Oct 2022£627£32,582
Nov 2022£634£32,967
Dec 2022£632£32,857
Jan 2023£635£33,004
Feb 2023£640£33,294
Mar 2023£644£33,464
Apr 2023£651£33,851
May 2023£655£34,067
Jun 2023£670£34,861
Jul 2023£665£34,574
Aug 2023£664£34,531
Sep 2023£673£35,017
Oct 2023£664£34,537
Nov 2023£666£34,622
% change, 10 years42%
Actual change, 10 years£198£10,304

Average hours worked

So if we're earning less, are we working less?

Mostly.

On average across all workers, we're clocking 31.6 hours of work a week now (July 2023). This is 30 minutes less a week (1.5% less) compared to 10 years ago.

It's full time workers that are really dragging this figure down—they're working 36.4 hours a week now, down 1.2 hours from 10 years ago (3.3% less).

But people are clocking more hours in part-time work or second jobs. Specifically, just under a half hour more each week for part-time work, and an extra 5 minutes a week (not much, really) in second jobs.

Chart showing average hours worked in Great Britain

So, we're working a touch less overall than we were 10 years ago, but people's pay has dropped more than you'd expect for the decrease in hours worked (when you take inflation into account)...

Here's the detailed data for hours worked in Great Britain going back 10 years:

Average hours worked per week, Great BritainAll workersFull-time workersPart-time workersSecond Jobs
Aug-Oct 201332.137.616.09.1
Sep-Nov 201332.137.616.09.1
Oct-Dec 201332.037.516.09.3
Nov-Jan 201432.037.415.99.4
Dec-Feb 201432.037.515.99.4
Jan-Mar 201432.137.515.99.7
Feb-Apr 201432.137.615.99.6
Mar-May 201432.137.616.09.6
Apr-Jun 201432.237.716.19.3
May-Jul 201432.237.716.09.3
Jun-Aug 201432.237.616.19.1
Jul-Sep 201432.237.616.19.2
Aug-Oct 201432.337.716.19.4
Sep-Nov 201432.337.716.29.6
Oct-Dec 201432.237.616.19.7
Nov-Jan 201532.137.516.19.6
Dec-Feb 201532.137.416.29.5
Jan-Mar 201532.137.416.39.3
Feb-Apr 201532.137.416.39.3
Mar-May 201532.137.516.29.2
Apr-Jun 201532.137.416.39.4
May-Jul 201532.037.316.29.5
Jun-Aug 201532.037.316.29.7
Jul-Sep 201531.937.316.29.5
Aug-Oct 201532.137.416.29.5
Sep-Nov 201532.237.616.39.4
Oct-Dec 201532.337.716.39.6
Nov-Jan 201632.237.616.39.4
Dec-Feb 201632.137.516.29.5
Jan-Mar 201632.137.616.19.4
Feb-Apr 201632.137.616.19.5
Mar-May 201632.137.516.19.6
Apr-Jun 201632.037.416.19.6
May-Jul 201632.037.416.19.6
Jun-Aug 201631.937.316.19.7
Jul-Sep 201632.037.416.29.6
Aug-Oct 201631.937.216.19.7
Sep-Nov 201632.037.416.29.6
Oct-Dec 201632.137.516.29.7
Nov-Jan 201732.237.616.39.7
Dec-Feb 201732.337.616.49.8
Jan-Mar 201732.237.516.39.7
Feb-Apr 201732.237.616.29.5
Mar-May 201732.237.516.29.3
Apr-Jun 201732.337.616.39.3
May-Jul 201732.237.516.39.3
Jun-Aug 201732.137.416.39.5
Jul-Sep 201732.037.316.29.8
Aug-Oct 201731.937.216.110.0
Sep-Nov 201731.937.216.210.0
Oct-Dec 201731.937.216.29.8
Nov-Jan 201832.137.316.29.9
Dec-Feb 201832.037.216.39.9
Jan-Mar 201831.937.116.410.0
Feb-Apr 201831.836.916.310.0
Mar-May 201831.937.016.310.1
Apr-Jun 201831.937.116.210.1
May-Jul 201831.937.116.210.1
Jun-Aug 201832.137.316.39.8
Jul-Sep 201832.237.316.39.8
Aug-Oct 201832.237.316.39.7
Sep-Nov 201832.037.116.39.7
Oct-Dec 201832.037.116.29.9
Nov-Jan 201932.037.216.29.7
Dec-Feb 201932.237.416.39.7
Jan-Mar 201932.237.516.39.6
Feb-Apr 201932.237.416.39.7
Mar-May 201932.137.416.39.6
Apr-Jun 201932.137.316.39.6
May-Jul 201932.037.216.39.7
Jun-Aug 201932.137.316.310.1
Jul-Sep 201932.137.316.310.0
Aug-Oct 201932.237.316.49.8
Sep-Nov 201932.037.116.39.5
Oct-Dec 201931.936.916.29.8
Nov-Jan 202031.936.916.19.8
Dec-Feb 202031.836.916.29.7
Jan-Mar 202031.336.315.79.8
Feb-Apr 202029.333.914.49.4
Mar-May 202027.031.412.59.0
Apr-Jun 202026.130.511.78.7
May-Jul 202026.230.811.78.8
Jun-Aug 202027.231.912.79.4
Jul-Sep 202028.332.913.79.6
Aug-Oct 202029.333.914.59.6
Sep-Nov 202030.034.614.69.7
Oct-Dec 202030.134.714.89.6
Nov-Jan 202129.934.414.59.9
Dec-Feb 202129.734.314.59.9
Jan-Mar 202129.634.114.49.9
Feb-Apr 202130.134.614.79.8
Mar-May 202130.735.215.110.1
Apr-Jun 202131.135.515.410.0
May-Jul 202131.435.815.610.0
Jun-Aug 202131.536.015.99.7
Jul-Sep 202131.636.116.09.9
Aug-Oct 202131.536.116.210.0
Sep-Nov 202131.536.016.210.1
Oct-Dec 202131.636.216.410.2
Nov-Jan 202231.736.416.59.8
Dec-Feb 202231.936.616.79.6
Jan-Mar 202232.036.616.89.7
Feb-Apr 202231.936.516.79.8
Mar-May 202231.836.516.59.9
Apr-Jun 202231.836.416.410.2
May-Jul 202231.836.416.310.2
Jun-Aug 202231.936.516.410.3
Jul-Sep 202231.736.316.310.0
Aug-Oct 202231.636.216.29.8
Sep-Nov 202231.636.216.49.4
Oct-Dec 202231.636.216.69.4
Nov-Jan 202331.836.416.79.3
Dec-Feb 202331.936.616.89.4
Jan-Mar 202331.936.616.99.4
Feb-Apr 202332.036.716.89.4
Mar-May 202331.936.716.79.0
Apr-Jun 202331.836.616.69.0
May-Jul 202331.636.416.49.2
% change, 10 years-1.5%-3.3%2.3%1.0%
Actual change, 10 years (hrs)-0.5-1.20.40.1

Recap

In short, we're working a little less. We're earning a lot more—42% more than we earned 10 years ago. But, our earnings haven't kept up with inflation. The Retail Price Index is up 49% over the past 10 years, meaning our costs (food, housing, etc.) have risen in cost more than our earnings have risen:

Over the past 10 years...

  • Our wages (whole economy, weekly earnings): +42%
  • Our costs (RPI): +49%
  • How much we work: -1.5%

Thoughts? Please leave a comment below.

Comments

NimbleFins Newsletter

Get energy alerts, deals, tips, news, and more!