In April 2025, employees in the United Kingdom were earning a median pay of ***** British pounds per month, compared with ***** in the previous month.

In March 2025, the top one percent of earners in the United Kingdom received an average pay of over 16,000 British pounds per month, compared with the bottom ten percent of earners who earned around 800 pounds a month.

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 2025 Between November 2021 and July 2023 inflation was higher than wage growth in the UK, with wages still outpacing inflation as of March 2025. 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 fell to 2.5 percent in 2024, but is forecast to increase to 3.2 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.

Wages in the United Kingdom decreased to 720 GBP/Week in April from 723 GBP/Week in March of 2025. This dataset provides - United Kingdom Average Weekly Wages - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Wages in the United Kingdom increased 5.30 percent in April 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.

Average Earnings Excluding Bonus in the United Kingdom decreased to 5.20 percent in April from 5.50 percent in March of 2025. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United Kingdom Average Earnings Excluding Bonus YoY.

In the three months to March 2025, average weekly earnings in the United Kingdom grew by 5.6 percent, while pay including bonuses grew by 5.5 percent, when compared with the same period leading to March 2024. In the same month, the inflation rate for the Consumer Price Index was 2.6 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.

Real Earnings Excluding Bonuses in the United Kingdom decreased to 0.80 percent in April from 1.50 percent in March of 2025. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United Kingdom Real Average Weekly Earnings Excluding Bonuses.

Average weekly earnings, UK, monthly.

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.

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.

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.

The Monthly Wages and Salaries Survey (MWSS) is the main source of information for three key indicators of Short-Term Earnings generated by the Office for National Statistics: the Average Earnings Index, the Average Weekly Earnings and the Index of Labour Costs per Hour.

The MWSS is distributed monthly to approximately 8,800 businesses and covers around 12.8 million employees. Companies are required to respond under the Statistics of Trade Act 1947. Businesses are selected from the Inter-Departmental Business Register. Every company with more than 1,000 employees is surveyed. Sampling is random for businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees. The MWSS does not cover businesses with fewer than 20 employees, and so the very smallest businesses in the economy are not represented. The self-employed and government-supported trainees are also not surveyed.

The major strength of the MWSS is that it provides comprehensive information on earnings, by industry. In terms of industrial coverage, information on all industries is collected, as defined by the Standard Industrial Classifications (1992). Information on both the public and private sectors is available.

Linking to other business studies
These data contain Inter-Departmental Business Register reference numbers. These are anonymous but unique reference numbers assigned to business organisations. Their inclusion allows researchers to combine different business survey sources together. Researchers may consider applying for other business data to assist their research.

Latest edition information
For the forty-second edition (February 2025), four monthly data files for July to October 2024 have been added to the study.

In 2025, it is predicted that average earnings in the United Kingdom will increase by 4.3 percent, compared with a growth rate of 4.7 percent in 2024, and 7.6 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 11.1 percent in October 2022, with inflation only reaching the typical target rate of two 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 two percent for regular pay and 1.7 percent for pay including bonuses. Full-time earnings reach over 37,000 GBP in 2024 Full-time employees in the United Kingdom earned an average annual salary of 37,430 British pounds in 2024, compared with just over 34,963 in the previous year. As of this year, men reported higher earnings than women did, with the UK reporting a gender pay gap of 13.1 percent for 2024, compared with 27.5 percent in 1997. Workers in their 40s had the highest average earnings by age group, at approximately 56,000 for men, and 44,000 for women. Although men earned more than women in all age groups, this gap was smallest among workers aged 18 to 21.

In April 2025, the average weekly salary and bonuses of construction workers in the United Kingdom (UK) reached *** British pounds. This was higher than the salary in the same period of the previous year. The number of construction job vacancies in the UK in that quarter had an even sharper decline.

The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) is one of the largest surveys of the earnings of individuals in the UK. Data on the wages, paid hours of work, and pensions arrangements of nearly one per cent of the working population are collected. Other variables relating to age, occupation and industrial classification are also available. The ASHE sample is drawn from National Insurance records for working individuals, and the survey forms are sent to their respective employers to complete.

While limited in terms of personal characteristics compared to surveys such as the Labour Force Survey, the ASHE is useful not only because of its larger sample size, but also the responses regarding wages and hours are considered to be more accurate, since the responses are provided by employers rather than from employees themselves. A further advantage of the ASHE is that data for the same individuals are collected year after year. It is therefore possible to construct a panel dataset of responses for each individual running back as far as 1997, and to track how occupations, earnings and working hours change for individuals over time. Furthermore, using the unique business identifiers, it is possible to combine ASHE data with data from other business surveys, such as the Annual Business Survey (UK Data Archive SN 7451).

The ASHE replaced the New Earnings Survey (NES, SN 6704) in 2004. NES was developed in the 1970s in response to the policy needs of the time. The survey had changed very little in its thirty-year history. ASHE datasets for the years 1997-2003 were derived using ASHE methodologies applied to NES data.

The ASHE improves on the NES in the following ways:

• the NES questionnaire allowed too much variation in employer responses, leading to wide variations in the data
• weightings have been introduced to take account of the population size (significant biases were a known problem in NES data)
• the significant numbers of employees who change jobs between the sample selection and survey reference dates are retained in the ASHE sample, whereas these were dropped from the NES

Linking to other business studies
These data contain Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) reference numbers. These are anonymous but unique reference numbers assigned to business organisations. Their inclusion allows researchers to combine different business survey sources together. Researchers may consider applying for other business data to assist their research.

Observations from Northern Ireland
The ASHE data held by the UK Data Archive include very few observations from Northern Ireland. Users requiring access to Northern Ireland data are advised to contact the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, who administer this aspect of the survey.

Local unit reference variable, luref
The local unit reference variable 'luref', is generated to indicate multiple occurrences of the same local unit for disclosure checking purposes. It is inconsistent across years and is not an IDBR reference number. It should not be used to link ASHE with other business datasets.

For Secure Lab projects applying for access to this study as well as to SN 6697 Business Structure Database and/or SN 7683 Business Structure Database Longitudinal, only postcode-free versions of the data will be made available.

Latest Edition Information
For the twenty-sixth edition (February 2025), the data file 'ashegb_2023r_2024p_pc' has been added, along with the accompanying data dictionary.

United Kingdom Nominal Average Weekly Earnings: sa: Total Pay (TP): Whole Economy data was reported at 716.000 GBP in Feb 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 711.000 GBP for Jan 2025. United Kingdom Nominal Average Weekly Earnings: sa: Total Pay (TP): Whole Economy data is updated monthly, averaging 461.000 GBP from Jan 2000 (Median) to Feb 2025, with 302 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 716.000 GBP in Feb 2025 and a record low of 299.809 GBP in Feb 2000. United Kingdom Nominal Average Weekly Earnings: sa: Total Pay (TP): Whole Economy data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Office for National Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.G083: Average Weekly Earnings: Seasonally Adjusted: SIC 2007 . Labour Force Estimates are shown for the mid-month of the three-month average time periods. For example, estimates for January to March 2012 are shown as 'February 2012', estimates for February to April 2012 are shown as 'March 2012', etc. [COVID-19-IMPACT]

Between 2018 and 2022, people in households in the ‘other’, Asian and black ethnic groups were the most likely to be in persistent low income, both before and after housing costs, out of all ethnic groups.