In 2024 men aged between 50 and 59 were the highest full-time earners in the United Kingdom among different gender and age groups, with men of different ages consistently earning more than women.

The median annual earnings for full-time employees in the United Kingdom was approximately 37,430 British pounds in 2024, compared with 34,963 pounds in the previous year. At the start of the provided time period, in 1999, the average full-time salary in the UK was 17,803 pounds per year, with median earnings exceeding 20,000 pounds per year in 2002, and 30,000 by 2019. Wages continue to grow faster than inflation in 2024 Between November 2021 and July 2023 inflation was higher than wage growth in the UK, with wages still outpacing inflation as of April 2024. At the peak of the recent wave of high inflation in October 2022, the CPI inflation rate reached a 41-year-high of 11.1 percent, wages were growing much slower at 6.1 percent. Since that peak, inflation remained persistently high for several months, only dropping below double figures in April 2023, when inflation was 8.7 percent, down from 10.1 percent in the previous month. For 2023 as a whole, the average annual rate of inflation was 7.3 percent but is forecast to fall to 2.2 percent in 2024, and 1.5 percent in 2025. Highest and lowest-paid occupations As of 2023, the highest-paid occupation in the UK was that of Chief Executives and Senior Officials, who had an average weekly pay of approximately, 1,576 pounds. By contrast, the lowest-paid occupation that year was that of retail cashiers, and check-out operators, who earned approximately 383 pounds a week. For industry sectors as a whole, people who worked full-time in the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply sector had the highest average earnings, at 955 pounds a week, compared with 505 pounds a week in the accommodation and food services sector, the lowest average earnings in 2023.

In 2023, full-time workers in their 40s had the highest average annual salary in the United Kingdom, earning on average around 39,491 British pounds a year, compared with 20,437 for people aged between 18 and 21.

In 2023, the highest average amount of disposable income for any age group occurred in the 35 to 44-year-old group, while the age group with the lowest average disposable income were those aged 85 and over.

In 2024, men in the United Kingdom had a higher average hourly full-time salary than women across most age groups, except for 16 to 17 when women had slightly higher earnings, and among those aged between 18 and 21, earnings were almost the same.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The aim of these studies is to examine the positions of the low paid, the subemployed (men and women unemployed for over 4 weeks in the last 12 months), the disabled and immigrants in two local labour markets. There were two main sources of data:
1) All members not in full-time education and under 71 of a simple random sample of households in 2 urban areas (230).
2) Follow-up survey of all individuals in 1, who fell into any one of four special categories (231).
i) low paid (less than 55p for males over 18, less than 35p for females over 18)
ii) subemployed (unemployed for more than 4 weeks in last 12 months)
iii) disabled
iv) immigrants (not born in UK or Eire)

Main Topics:

Attitudinal/Behavioural Questions
This dataset contains data from source 1.
a) Terms and Conditions of Employment
Holidays, sick pay, pension, notice, contract, journey to work (time, weekly cost), normal starting time, outdoors or indoors (shelter, tea/coffee, toilet, washing facilities, place to eat, place for storage, first aid, phone call, heating), place for coats etc., adjustable lighting, details of fringe benefits received.
Amount of heaving, lifting, sitting down, whether work dangerous, noisy or tiring. Security, promotion prospects, trade union (membership), reasons if no trade union, opinion on whether union would be advisable (reasons), reasons for non-membership. Number of employees, immediate work group, autonomy, number in same job (as a proportion of the labour force), origin of workmates, earnings relative to others, low paid men/women. Influence on pay (union/employer or other), assessment of employer (reasons). Net/gross wages last time paid, hours worked/overtime during last pay week, period of payment, number of weeks worked in past year, average hourly earnings, variations in pay during last month (specific details). Promotion/demotion (reasons and description of job change).
Labour force status, internal movement, number of employers/ occupations/industries/jobs/skill level changes in last 5 and last 10 years. Number of job changes, number of periods of unemployment, length of time unemployed, size of works closure, redundancy pay received, job offers, help finding a job (type). Average gross/net earnings, average hours worked/period of payment. Additions to pay, tax rebate, tax paid direct, work expenses, number of weeks paid holiday, income fluctuations (reasons), deductions, time off work (reasons), sick pay, number of weeks sickness, strike pay, number of weeks on strike, pay for other reasons, number of weeks absent for other reasons. Length of time out of work/on short time/part time (reasons).
b) Previous occupation
Reason for leaving; type; location; hours per week; gross/net earnings; payment period; date left work.
c) First job
Social class; source of information; starting date; method of application; reasons for acceptance.
d) Second job
Social class; gross/net income.
e) Housewives
Attitude to work; reasons for not working; whether job taken if help given with family; suitable conditions-hours, location, pay, type of job.
Method of job search, interviews, refusals, whether job held in last 5 years. Previous job; type, employment status, location, hours per week, gross/net earnings, payment period, reason for leaving, date of leaving.
f) Retired
As for housewives, plus reason for retirement; when started drawing pension.
Background Variables
Age, sex, marital status, place of birth, ethnic origin, educational status, school-leaving age, number of years of schooling, qualifications, further education, job-specific training. Driving licence, general health condition, specific troubles/illnesses, health effect on work, employment status. Number of households at address, number in household with: four or more weeks unemployed in last 12 months; low pay; disability; number of immigrants. Number in household, number aged 71 and over, number aged 15 and under, number aged 15 and over in education, number currently with paid job. Household type, number of rooms, amenities, structural defects, tenure, business purposes, net household income, rent rebate, number of weeks rent paid, rates, rate rebate (owner occupiers only), whether house paid for, presence of lodgers/boarders and sub-tenants, persons per room, cost of repairs over previous year, housing cost weekly. Family allowances received, retirement pension, widows pension.
Benefits received - sickness, unemployment, supplementary, industrial injury, industrial disability, war disability, maternity, death. Income received from property, assets and savings (value), number of weeks worked in past year, average hourly earnings, length of residence in study area/in North East/in GLC, local papers read.
Relatives in area (father, mother, siblings, children,...

The majority of respondents of all age groups in the United Kingdom spent an average of less than four thousand British pounds on holidays each year, according to data from the first half of 2020. Around a third of holidaymakers aged 25 to 35 would spend between one and two thousand pounds on holidays per year (32 percent) and another 26 percent two to four thousand.