Wages for regular pay in the United Kingdom grew by approximately five percent in May 2025, although when adjusted for inflation, wages for regular pay only grew in real terms by 1.1 percent. Twenty months of inflation outpacing wages Between November 2021 and June 2023, inflation was higher than wage growth in the UK, resulting in falling real terms earnings throughout this 20-month period. While UK inflation peaked at 11.1 percent in October 2022, it was not until April 2023 that it fell below double figures, and not until May 2024 that it reached the Bank of England's target of two percent. Forecasts from the Autumn 2024 budget predict that the annual UK inflation for 2024 will be 2.5 percent, down from 7.3 percent in 2023 and 9.1 percent in 2022. Due to high inflation, the UK's minimum wage also rose quite significantly during this period, with the "main" rate increasing from 8.91 pounds per hour in 2021 to 12.21 pounds per hour in 2025. Average earnings and gender pay gap For full-time workers in the United Kingdom, the median average annual earnings was 37,430 British pounds in 2024, compared with 34,663 pounds in 2023. In London, average earnings were significantly higher than the rest of the country, at 47,455 pounds. Just two other areas of the United Kingdom, the South East and Scotland, had annual salaries above the UK average. North East England had the lowest average salary, at 32,960 pounds. As of 2024, the gender pay gap for median gross hourly earnings in the UK was 13.1 percent for all workers, falling to seven percent for full-time workers and -3 percent for part-time workers. Compared with 1997, when the gender pay gap was 27.5 percent for all workers, there has been a degree of progress, although, at current trends, it will be some time before the gap is closed entirely.
As of the first quarter of 2025, wages in the UK's construction services sector grew by approximately 7.5 percent compared with the same quarter of 2023, with wages growing by 5.3 percent overall.
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Wages in the United Kingdom increased 5 percent in May of 2025 over the same month in the previous year. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United Kingdom Average Weekly Earnings Growth - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.
In the three months to April 2025, average weekly earnings in the United Kingdom grew by 5.2 percent, while pay including bonuses grew by 5.3 percent, when compared with the same period leading to April 2024. In the same month, the inflation rate for the Consumer Price Index was 3.5 percent, indicating that wages were rising faster than prices that month. Average salaries in the UK In 2024, the average salary for full-time workers in the UK was 37,430 British pounds a year, up from 34,963 in the previous year. In London, the average annual salary was far higher than the rest of the country, at 47,455 pounds per year, compared with just 32,960 in North East England. There also still exists a noticeable gender pay gap in the UK, which was seven percent for full-time workers in 2024, down from 7.5 percent in 2023. Lastly, the monthly earnings of the top one percent in the UK was 15,887 pounds as of November 2024, far higher than even that of the average for the top five percent, who earned 7,641 pounds per month, while pay for the lowest 10 percent of earners was just 805 pounds per month. Waves of industrial action in the UK One of the main consequences of high inflation and low wage growth throughout 2022 and 2023 was an increase in industrial action in the UK. In December 2022, for example, there were approximately 830,000 working days lost due to labor disputes. Throughout this month, workers across various industry sectors were involved in industrial disputes, such as nurses, train drivers, and driving instructors. Many of the workers who took part in strikes were part of the UK's public sector, which saw far weaker wage growth than that of the private sector throughout 2022. Widespread industrial action continued into 2023, with approximately 303,000 workers involved in industrial disputes in March 2023. There was far less industrial action by 2024, however, due to settlements in many of the disputes, although some are ongoing as of 2025.
This statistic shows the predicted change in wages and salaries in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2017 until 2023, as a percentage change from the same time the preceding year. The wages and the salaries were forecasted to increase at 4.1 percent in 2018. In the following years a constant decrease is predicted.
Wages for regular pay in the United Kingdom grew by approximately 5.2 percent in April 2025, although when adjusted for inflation, wages for regular pay only grew in real terms by 1.4 percent. Twenty months of inflation outpacing wages Between November 2021 and June 2023 inflation was higher than wage growth in the UK, resulting in falling real terms earnings throughout this 20-month period. While UK inflation peaked at 11.1 percent in October 2022, it was not until April 2023 that it fell below double figures, and not until May 2024 that it reached the Bank of England's target of two percent. Forecasts from the Autumn 2024 budget predict that the annual UK inflation will for 2024 will be 2.5 percent, down from 7.3 percent in 2023 and 9.1 percent in 2022. Due to high inflation, the UK's minimum wage also rose quite significantly during this period, with the "main" rate increasing from 8.91 pounds per hour in 2021 to 12.21 pounds per hour in 2025. Average earnings and gender pay gap For full-time workers in the United Kingdom, the median average annual earnings was 37,430 British pounds in 2024, compared with 34,663 pounds in 2023. In London, average earnings were significantly higher than the rest of the country, at 47,455 pounds. Just two other areas of the United Kingdom, the South East and Scotland, had annual salaries above the UK average. North East England had the lowest average salary, at 32,960 pounds. As of 2024, the gender pay gap for median gross hourly earnings in the UK was 13.1 percent for all workers, falling to seven percent for full-time workers and -3 percent for part-time workers. Compared with 1997, when the gender pay gap was 27.5 percent for all workers, there has been a degree of progress, although, at current trends, it will be some time before the gap is closed entirely.
In 2025, it is predicted that average earnings in the United Kingdom will increase by *** percent, compared with a growth rate of *** percent in 2024, and *** percent in 2023, the fastest average earnings growth in this time period. By contrast, average earnings did not grow at all in 2020, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Earnings vs inflation Although earnings grew at their fastest pace between 2021 and 2023 in this provided time period, this was offset by the period of very high inflation that occurred alongside it. This reached a peak of **** percent in October 2022, with inflation only reaching the typical target rate of *** percent in May 2024. Despite strong wage growth, the average UK worker saw their earnings fall relative to inflation between November 2021 and May 2023. As of January 2024, weekly wages in the UK were still growing faster than inflation, at *** percent for regular pay and *** percent for pay including bonuses. Full-time earnings reach over ****** GBP in 2024 Full-time employees in the United Kingdom earned an average annual salary of ****** British pounds in 2024, compared with just over ****** in the previous year. As of this year, men reported higher earnings than women did, with the UK reporting a gender pay gap of **** percent for 2024, compared with **** percent in 1997. Workers in their 40s had the highest average earnings by age group, at approximately ****** for men, and ****** for women. Although men earned more than women in all age groups, this gap was smallest among workers aged 18 to 21.
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Average weekly earnings at sector level including manufacturing, finance and services, Great Britain, monthly, non-seasonally adjusted. Monthly Wages and Salaries Survey.
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Wages in the United Kingdom increased to 722 GBP/Week in May from 720 GBP/Week in April of 2025. This dataset provides - United Kingdom Average Weekly Wages - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.
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This dataset provides values for WAGE GROWTH reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.
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Average weekly earnings at industry level including manufacturing, construction and energy, Great Britain, monthly, non-seasonally adjusted. Monthly Wages and Salaries Survey.
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Average weekly earnings at sector level headline estimates, Great Britain, monthly, seasonally adjusted. Monthly Wages and Salaries Survey.
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Key information about United Kingdom Monthly Earnings
The table only covers individuals who have some liability to Income Tax. The percentile points have been independently calculated on total income before tax and total income after tax.
These statistics are classified as accredited official statistics.
You can find more information about these statistics and collated tables for the latest and previous tax years on the Statistics about personal incomes page.
Supporting documentation on the methodology used to produce these statistics is available in the release for each tax year.
Note: comparisons over time may be affected by changes in methodology. Notably, there was a revision to the grossing factors in the 2018 to 2019 publication, which is discussed in the commentary and supporting documentation for that tax year. Further details, including a summary of significant methodological changes over time, data suitability and coverage, are included in the Background Quality Report.
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Annual estimates of paid hours worked and earnings for UK employees by sex, and full-time and part-time, by home-based region to local and unitary authority level.
At the Low Pay Commission, we analyse the low-paid labour market to monitor the impact of the National Minimum Wage. To this end, we want to identify the businesses and workers who are most affected by the minimum wage.
To help us identify these workers and businesses, we use two definitions: low-paying occupations relate to job roles that are often low-paid – for example, ‘sales assistants’; low-paying industries are based on the main activity of the employer – for example, ‘retail trade’.
The definitions were last updated in 2017, shortly after the introduction of the National Living Wage (NLW). A lot has changed since then: the level of the minimum wage has increased rapidly, potentially changing the types of workers and businesses affected by it. The ONS has also updated how it classifies occupations, moving to a new set of standard occupational codes (SOC 2020) in the datasets we use. This move was completed for the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) – our main data source for hourly pay – in autumn 2022.
To make sure our work keeps up with these changes – and remains relevant once the NLW meets its target in 2024 – we have reviewed and updated our definitions of low-paying occupations and industries. This page publishes tables with full details of the new occupation and industry groups. It also contains data tables related to https://minimumwage.blog.gov.uk/2023/09/11/the-lpc-has-updated-its-definitions-of-low-paying-sectors/" class="govuk-link">a blog we have recently published explaining these changes.
December 2024: We have made some small revisions to the Economic Estimates: Employment in the DCMS sectors, January 2011 to December 2023 data table, due to the identification of an error.
The employment estimates provide an estimate of the contribution of DCMS sectors to the UK economy, measured by number of filled jobs. These estimates are calculated based on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Population Survey (APS). They have been independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) and are accredited official statistics.
The APS earnings estimates are used to provide detailed demographic information about earnings in the DCMS sectors. These estimates are official statistics that have not yet been reviewed and accredited by the OSR but are produced in line with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. For headline estimates of earnings, DCMS also publishes estimates using the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), which are more robust and DCMS’s preferred source for headline earnings estimates.
Since the publication of these statistics, the ONS has carried out analysis to assess the impact of falling sample sizes on the quality of Annual Population Survey (APS) estimates. Due to the ongoing challenges with response rates, response levels and weighting, the accreditation of ONS statistics based on Annual Population Survey (APS) was temporarily suspended on 9 October 2024. Because of the increased volatility of both Labour Force Survey (LFS) and APS estimates, the ONS advises that estimates produced using these datasets should be treated with additional caution.
ONS statistics based on both the APS and LFS will be considered official statistics in development until further review. We are reviewing the quality of our estimates and will update users about the accreditation of DCMS Employment Economic Estimates if this changes.
These statistics cover the contributions of the following DCMS sectors to the UK economy;
Civil Society
Creative Industries
Cultural Sector
Gambling
Sport
Tourism is not included as the data for this time period is not yet available. The release also includes estimates for the Audio Visual sector and Computer Games subsector.
Users should note that there is overlap between DCMS sector definitions. In particular, several cultural sector industries are simultaneously creative industries.
A definition for each sector is available in the tables published alongside this release. Further information on all these sectors is available in the associated technical report along with details of methods and data limitations.
As of the 2023 calendar year, there were a total of 4.0 million filled jobs in the included DCMS sectors, representing 11.8% of total filled jobs. This is an increase of 403,000 filled jobs compared to 2019 (up 11.2%), and 81,000 filled jobs compared to 2022 (up 2.1%). For context, in the UK economy as a whole, filled jobs have increased by 1.4% since 2019 and 0.8% since 2022.
As of 2023, in percentage terms, the gap in median hourly pay between men and women was larger than the UK workforce overall. The median hourly pay for women was 19.5% lower than for men in included DCMS sectors overall, compared to a difference of 15.5% for the UK economy as a whole. However, the median hourly pay for disabled people was 12.4% lower than for non-disabled people in included DCMS sectors overall, compared to a difference of 13.4% for the UK economy as a whole.
First published on 13 June 2024.
A document is provided that contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.
This release is published in accordance with the https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/the-code/" class="govuk-link">Code of Practice for Statistics, as produced by the UK Statistics A
For the 2025/26 financial year, the annual salary for Members of Parliament (MPs) in the United Kingdom was 93,904 British pounds. This marked an increase of around 2,558 pounds when compared with the previous year, when the annual salary was 91,346 pounds. In 2021/22, there was no increase in pay for MPs in the UK because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the annual salary remaining at 81,932 pounds per year at that time. Comparison with average earnings In 2023, the median earnings for full-time workers in the UK was 34,963 pounds a year, meaning that MPs earned more than 50,000 pounds more than the average worker. The appropriate salary for MPs is a charged issue in the UK, especially with the country currently facing its worst Cost of Living Crisis in decades. As of January 2024, just over half of Britons were facing higher living costs than a year earlier, while 53 percent thought the economy was the main issue facing the country. MPs themselves are not responsible for deciding their pay, and since 2011, decisions regarding MPs pay and expenses lie with the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA). House of Commons demographics As of the last election most of the elected MPs were aged between 50 and 59, with only 21 of them in their twenties or younger. In terms of gender, there are almost two male MPs for every one woman, although this is a much higher than in 1979 when only 3 percent of MPs were women. Since 1987, the number of non-white MPs has increased from four Labour MPs to 65 in 2019, 41 Labour Party MPs, 22 Conservatives, and two who belong to the Liberal Democrats. With a 2024 general election likely, the composition of parliament is set to change significantly. Although a Labour majority is currently the most likely outcome based on recent polls, whichever party wins will probably lead the most ethnically diverse parliament in history, as well as the one with the highest number of female MPs.
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Annual estimates of paid hours worked and earnings for UK employees by sex, and full-time and part-time, by region and two-digit Standard Industrial Classification 2007.
These documents explain the Home Office structure and salaries at the respective report dates.
Data source: Metis - Home Office human resources record system.
This information focuses on posts rather than people and includes all civil servants.
Explanatory notes:
Wages for regular pay in the United Kingdom grew by approximately five percent in May 2025, although when adjusted for inflation, wages for regular pay only grew in real terms by 1.1 percent. Twenty months of inflation outpacing wages Between November 2021 and June 2023, inflation was higher than wage growth in the UK, resulting in falling real terms earnings throughout this 20-month period. While UK inflation peaked at 11.1 percent in October 2022, it was not until April 2023 that it fell below double figures, and not until May 2024 that it reached the Bank of England's target of two percent. Forecasts from the Autumn 2024 budget predict that the annual UK inflation for 2024 will be 2.5 percent, down from 7.3 percent in 2023 and 9.1 percent in 2022. Due to high inflation, the UK's minimum wage also rose quite significantly during this period, with the "main" rate increasing from 8.91 pounds per hour in 2021 to 12.21 pounds per hour in 2025. Average earnings and gender pay gap For full-time workers in the United Kingdom, the median average annual earnings was 37,430 British pounds in 2024, compared with 34,663 pounds in 2023. In London, average earnings were significantly higher than the rest of the country, at 47,455 pounds. Just two other areas of the United Kingdom, the South East and Scotland, had annual salaries above the UK average. North East England had the lowest average salary, at 32,960 pounds. As of 2024, the gender pay gap for median gross hourly earnings in the UK was 13.1 percent for all workers, falling to seven percent for full-time workers and -3 percent for part-time workers. Compared with 1997, when the gender pay gap was 27.5 percent for all workers, there has been a degree of progress, although, at current trends, it will be some time before the gap is closed entirely.