Earnings Pay in all
regions tops £400 per week
Across all regions average
weekly pay went above £400 for the first time.
The largest overall increases were in the South West
and the East (4.2 per cent). The lowest increases
were in the South East (1.4 per cent). Weekly earnings
averaged £637 in London, significantly higher
than in other regions, which ranged from £402
in the North East to £506 in the South East.
Average earnings of full-time
male employees were £525 per week in April 2003,
for women the average was £396 while the figure
for all adults was £476.
The average annual pay for women
increased by 3.5 per cent in 2003 to £20,314,
going above the £20,000 mark for the first time.
Average annual earnings for full-time employees for
the 2002-2003 tax year stood at £25,170 up 3.1
per cent on the previous year. Males earned on average
£28,065, up 3.0 per cent.
Top of the earnings league in
2003 were ‘Directors and chief executives of
major organisations’, (£2,301 a week),
followed by ‘Medical practitioners’ (£1,186)
and ‘Financial managers and chartered secretaries’
(£1,124).
The lowest paid of all full-time
employees were ‘Retail cashiers and check-out
operators’ with £208 a week. This was
9 per cent of the earnings of the highest paid group.
The difference between full-time
earnings in the public sector and the private sector
narrowed over the year to April 2003. Weekly pay in
the private sector grew by 1.9 per cent to £480.
Public sector pay averaged £465, an increase
of 3.7 per cent. This compares with an overall increase
of 2.8 per cent.
Average earnings are calculated
by dividing the total earnings of a group of employees
by the number of people in the group. This average
('mean') value is boosted by a relatively small number
of employees with extremely high earnings. Although
average earnings in April 2003 were £476 per
week, half of all full-time employees earned less
than £394. The top 10 per cent of the earnings
distribution earned more than £770 per week,
while the bottom tenth earned less than £223.
