www.ons.gov.uk
Open in
urlscan Pro
2606:4700:10::6814:204d
Public Scan
URL:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/annualsurveyofhoursande...
Submission: On August 20 via api from US
Submission: On August 20 via api from US
Form analysis 2 forms found in the DOM
GET /cookies/accept-all
<form action="/cookies/accept-all" method="GET" id="global-cookie-message" class="cookies-banner js-cookies-banner-form clearfix" aria-label="cookie banner">
<div class="cookies-banner__wrapper wrapper js-cookies-banner-inform">
<div>
<div class="cookies-banner__message adjust-font-size--18">
<h3 class="cookies-banner__heading">Tell us whether you accept cookies</h3>
<p class="cookies-banner__body">We would like to <a href="/cookies">use cookies to collect information</a> about how you use <strong>ons.gov.uk</strong>.</p>
<p></p>
<p class="cookies-banner__body">We use this information to make the website work as well as possible and improve our services.</p>
</div>
<div class="cookies-banner__buttons">
<div class="cookies-banner__button cookies-banner__button--accept">
<button class="btn btn--full-width btn--primary btn--focus margin-right--2 font-weight-700 font-size--17 text-wrap js-accept-cookies" data-gtm-accept-cookies="true" type="submit">Accept all cookies</button>
</div>
<div class="cookies-banner__button">
<a role="button" href="/cookies" class="btn btn--full-width btn--primary btn--focus margin-right--2 font-weight-700 font-size--17 text-wrap">Set cookie preferences</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="hidden js-cookies-banner-confirmation" tabindex="-1">
<div class="cookies-banner__wrapper wrapper">
<div class="col">
<div class="cookies-banner__message adjust-font-size--18">
<p class="cookies-banner__confirmation-message"> You’ve accepted all cookies. You can <a href="/cookies">change your cookie settings</a> at any time. <button type="button"
class="cookies-banner__button--hide js-hide-cookies-banner">Hide</button>
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</form>/search
<form class="col-wrap search__form" action="/search">
<label class="search__label col col--md-23 col--lg-24" for="nav-search">Search for a keyword(s) or time series ID</label>
<input type="search" autocomplete="off" class="search__input col col--md-21 col--lg-32" id="nav-search" name="q" value="">
<button type="submit" class="search__button col--md-3 col--lg-3" id="nav-search-submit">
<span class="visuallyhidden">Search</span>
<span class="icon icon-search--light"></span>
</button>
</form>Text Content
TELL US WHETHER YOU ACCEPT COOKIES
We would like to use cookies to collect information about how you use
ons.gov.uk.
We use this information to make the website work as well as possible and improve
our services.
Accept all cookies
Set cookie preferences
You’ve accepted all cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.
Hide
Skip to main content
/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/annualsurveyofhoursandearnings/2020
English (EN) | Cymraeg (CY)
* Release calendar
* Methodology
* Media
* About
* Blog
* Menu
* Search
* Home
* Business, industry and trade
* Business
* Changes to business
* Construction industry
* IT and internet industry
* International trade
* Manufacturing and production industry
* Retail industry
* Tourism industry
* Economy
* Economic output and productivity
* Environmental accounts
* Government, public sector and taxes
* Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
* Gross Value Added (GVA)
* Inflation and price indices
* Investments, pensions and trusts
* National accounts
* Regional accounts
* Employment and labour market
* People in work
* People not in work
* People, population and community
* Births, deaths and marriages
* Crime and justice
* Cultural identity
* Education and childcare
* Elections
* Health and social care
* Household characteristics
* Housing
* Leisure and tourism
* Personal and household finances
* Population and migration
* Well-being
* Taking part in a survey?
* English (EN) | Cymraeg (CY)
Search for a keyword(s) or time series ID Search
1. Home
2. Employment and labour market
3. People in work
4. Earnings and working hours
5. Employee earnings in the UK
EMPLOYEE EARNINGS IN THE UK: 2020
Measures of employee earnings, using data from the Annual Survey for Hours and
Earnings (ASHE).
This is the latest release. View previous releases
CORRECTION
21 January 2021 08:25
We made a correction to the data download for Figure 6 but the figure image is
unaffected. We apologise for any inconvenience.
View superseded version
Contact:
Email Roger Smith
Release date:
3 November 2020
Next release:
To be announced
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Other pages in this release
2. Main points: April 2020
3. Employee earnings and hours worked
4. Employee earnings data
5. Glossary
6. Measuring the data
7. Strengths and limitations
8. Related links
Print this Statistical bulletin
Download as PDF
View all data used in this Statistical bulletin
1. OTHER PAGES IN THIS RELEASE
Commentary on topics covered in the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE)
is split between three separate bulletins in 2020. Other commentary from the
latest ASHE data can be found on the following pages:
* Low and high pay in the UK: 2020
* Gender pay gap in the UK: 2020
Back to table of contents
2. MAIN POINTS: APRIL 2020
* Statistics in this bulletin (based on the Annual Survey for Hours and
Earnings (ASHE) 2020) relate to the pay period that includes 22 April 2020,
at which time approximately 8.8 million employees were furloughed under the
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS); the estimates in this bulletin
include furloughed employees and are based on actual payments made to the
employee from company payrolls and the hours on which this pay was
calculated, which in the case of furloughed employees are their usual hours.
* Median weekly pay for full-time employees was £586 in April 2020, up 0.1% on
a year earlier; pay fell in the private sector (negative 0.6%) but not in the
public sector (positive 2.4%), following four years of higher pay growth in
the private sector; this fall reflects the different job types across each
sector and the extent they have been impacted because of the coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic.
* Across all jobs, median weekly earnings in April remained unchanged from a
year earlier on a nominal basis; when adjusted for inflation, they fell 0.9%
in real terms over the year.
* The average number of hours paid across all jobs fell by 1.5% from 2019, a
much smaller fall than the estimated change in hours actually worked (19%,
based on the Labour Force Survey for Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2020) where
usual hours are not included.
* While pay held up for most employees, there are groups of employees who fared
less well, most notably younger employees, the lowest-paid part-time
employees, and those working in accommodation and food services.
* Employees aged 16 to 17 and 18 to 21 years were more impacted than other
employees in terms of hours paid for, which fell 5.7% and 3.4% respectively
compared with 2019.
* In accommodation and food services, paid hours fell by 12% and weekly pay
fell by 18.1% compared with 2019.
* Younger workers and those working in accommodation and food services are more
likely to be furloughed and were also less likely to have their pay topped up
by their employer when compared with other furloughed employees.
* Median annual pay for full-time employees was £31,461 for the tax year ending
5 April 2020, up 3.6% on the previous year; annual pay estimates are largely
unaffected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
* The analysis in this bulletin is based mainly on weekly pay, which is
affected by both hourly rates of pay, and hours worked and paid for (and
incidence of being furloughed in 2020); the accompanying Low and high paid
jobs bulletin looks in more detail at the distribution of pay based on hourly
rates and is of particular use when considering policy around the National
Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates.
!
ASHE estimates for 2020 are subject to more uncertainty than usual as a result
of the challenges we faced in collecting the data under government-imposed
public health restrictions. More information is available in the Measuring the
data section.
Back to table of contents
3. EMPLOYEE EARNINGS AND HOURS WORKED
FIGURE 1: ACROSS ALL JOBS, ANNUAL GROWTH IN NOMINAL MEDIAN WEEKLY EARNINGS IN
APRIL 2020 WAS UNCHANGED; WHEN ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION, IT FELL 0.9% OVER THE
YEAR
ANNUAL PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN REAL AND NOMINAL MEDIAN GROSS WEEKLY EARNINGS FOR
ALL JOBS, FULL-TIME AND PART-TIME, UK, 2019 TO 2020
Created with Highcharts 5.0.7
All jobs (nominal)All jobs (real)Full-time (nominal)Full-time (real)Part-time
(nominal)Part-time (real)
-1.5-1-0.500.511.522.533.5
%
SOURCE: OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS – ANNUAL SURVEY OF HOURS AND EARNINGS
(ASHE)
NOTES:
1. Footnotes applicable to this chart are 1, 2, and 4 in Section 6: Measuring
the data.
DOWNLOAD THIS CHART FIGURE 1: ACROSS ALL JOBS, ANNUAL GROWTH IN NOMINAL MEDIAN
WEEKLY EARNINGS IN APRIL 2020 WAS UNCHANGED; WHEN ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION, IT
FELL 0.9% OVER THE YEAR
Image .csv .xls
Median weekly earnings among all employees were unchanged in April 2020 compared
with a year earlier, as shown in Figure 1, and when adjusted for inflation using
the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH) were
down 0.9% in real terms. The pattern of growth is similar among employees
working full-time.
!
The Annual Survey for Hours and Earnings (ASHE) is based on employer responses
for a 1% sample of employee jobs, using HM Revenue and Customs Pay As You Earn
(PAYE) records to identify individuals' current employer. Throughout this
bulletin, the terms jobs and employees are used interchangeably.
Median pay among part-time employee jobs increased more (by 3.0% in nominal
terms and 2.1% in real terms), a similar pattern to recent years. Part-time jobs
tend to be paid less per hour and are more impacted by increases in National
Minimum Wage rates, but other factors such as flexible working patterns can
change employee job profiles from full-time to part-time, whilst retaining the
higher hourly pay rates.
The estimates in Figure 1 provide an indication of the pay situation among the
average employees. However, because many employees faced reduced working hours
and pay in April 2020, a true understanding of pay requires more analysis by
different types of employee, as provided in the rest of this bulletin and in
more detail in the accompanying bulletin Low and high pay in the UK: 2020, which
provides detail of pay change across the distribution of pay rates.
FIGURE 2: GROWTH IN REAL HOURLY PAY FOR FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES WAS POSITIVE IN 2020
WHILE REAL WEEKLY PAY GROWTH WAS NEGATIVE
REAL GROSS WEEKLY EARNINGS GROWTH AGAINST REAL GROSS HOURLY EARNINGS GROWTH FOR
FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES, UK, 1998 TO 2020
Created with Highcharts 5.0.7
-3-2-101234
-3-2-1012345
%
SOURCE: OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS – ANNUAL SURVEY OF HOURS AND EARNINGS
(ASHE)
NOTES:
Footnotes applicable to this chart are 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 in Section 6: Measuring
the data.
DOWNLOAD THIS CHART FIGURE 2: GROWTH IN REAL HOURLY PAY FOR FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES
WAS POSITIVE IN 2020 WHILE REAL WEEKLY PAY GROWTH WAS NEGATIVE
Image .csv .xls
Figure 2 shows the relationship between growth in weekly earnings and growth in
hourly earnings, in real terms (adjusted for inflation) for full-time employees.
Hourly earnings are normally calculated as the amount of pay made to the
employee, divided by the hours of work that pay relates to. However, in April
2020, an estimated 8.8 million employees were furloughed under the Coronavirus
Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and at that time these employees were not allowed to
work in their furloughed job. Their hourly earnings are thus calculated using
the number of hours usually worked by the employee. This means that the hourly
pay comparison between 2020 and other years in Figure 1 is a consistent one in
that it relates to pay per hour that the employee is being paid for, but it
should not be interpreted as reflecting pay for hours actually worked.
In 2020, full-time employees, on average, experienced an increase in hourly pay
compared with 2019 (positive 0.7% in real terms). However, the weekly pay growth
was lower at negative 0.9%. The reason for this is that some employees who were
not furloughed were given less paid work than in 2019, as explored in Figure 3.
The pattern in 2020 was last seen in 2009 during the economic crisis, suggesting
that employers are inclined to cut employee hours ahead of pay rates, in times
of economic challenge.
FIGURE 3: ALTHOUGH THERE WAS A FALL IN HOURS ACTUALLY WORKED IN ALL INDUSTRY
SECTORS, MOST EMPLOYEES RECEIVED PAY BASED ON THEIR USUAL HOURS; THE NOTABLE
EXCEPTION WAS ACCOMMODATION AND FOOD SERVICES
PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN ANNUAL SURVEY OF HOURS AND EARNINGS, GROSS MEDIAN WEEKLY
EARNINGS AND AVERAGE PAID HOURS WORKED COMPARED WITH LABOUR FORCE SURVEY AVERAGE
ACTUAL HOURS WORKED, BY SELECTED INDUSTRY SECTORS, ALL EMPLOYEES, UK, APRIL 2020
Created with Highcharts 5.0.7
ASHE-based paid weekly hours % change on year
LFS-based actual weekly hours % change on year
ASHE-based gross median weekly earnings % change on year
Public admin and defence; social securityFinancial insurance and real estate
activitiesHuman health and social work activitiesInformation and
communicationProfessional scientific and technical
activitiesManufacturingEducationTransport and storageAdministrative and support
servicesWholesale retail and repair of motor vehiclesConstructionOther
servicesAccommodation and food servicesAll sectors
-60-50-40-30-20-10010
%
SOURCE: OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS – ANNUAL SURVEY OF HOURS AND EARNINGS
(ASHE) AND LABOUR FORCE SURVEY (LFS)
NOTES:
1. Footnotes applicable to this chart are 1 and 2 in Section 6: Measuring the
data.
ANNOTATIONS:
DOWNLOAD THIS CHART FIGURE 3: ALTHOUGH THERE WAS A FALL IN HOURS ACTUALLY WORKED
IN ALL INDUSTRY SECTORS, MOST EMPLOYEES RECEIVED PAY BASED ON THEIR USUAL HOURS;
THE NOTABLE EXCEPTION WAS ACCOMMODATION AND FOOD SERVICES
Image .csv .xls
Figure 3 compares, for each industry sector, the annual change in median weekly
pay and number of hours paid for, with number of hours actually worked (source:
actual hours worked published from the Labour Force Survey).
The effect that the CJRS had in April is clear. Employees being placed on the
scheme prevented paid hours falling at the rate shown by the actual number of
hours worked, as reported in the Labour Force Survey. A subsequent downward
pressure on weekly earnings from a fall in hours was largely suppressed. For
example, among all industry sectors actual hours worked fell by 20% from 2019
but paid hours fell by only 1.5% and median weekly pay was unchanged.
In industries such as education, the difference between median weekly pay and
number of hours paid for, on one hand, and actual hours worked on the other was
more marked, indicating that the majority of employees were either given their
usual hours of work or were furloughed.
However, in accommodation and food services and, to a lesser extent,
construction, and administrative and support services, there was a more notable
fall in paid hours, which would reflect situations such as employers wanting
staff to work but being unable to offer them their usual hours. The combination
of this, plus the incidence of employees being furloughed without the employer
topping up their pay (see Table 1), determines the change in weekly pay.
Clearly, the combination of these factors resulted in a large fall in median
weekly pay for employees working in accommodation and food services in
particular (negative 18.1%).
FIGURE 4: AVERAGE TOTAL PAID HOURS FELL MORE STRONGLY FOR YOUNGER AGE GROUPS
OVER THE YEAR
ANNUAL PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN AVERAGE (MEAN) TOTAL PAID HOURS BY AGE GROUP, ALL
EMPLOYEES, UK, APRIL 2020
Created with Highcharts 5.0.7
50 to 59 22 to 29 40 to 49 30 to 39 60 and over 18 to 21 16 to 17All ages
-6-5.5-5-4.5-4-3.5-3-2.5-2-1.5-1-0.50
Hours and %
SOURCE: OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS – ANNUAL SURVEY OF HOURS AND EARNINGS
(ASHE)
NOTES:
1. Footnotes applicable to this chart are 1 and 2 in Section 6: Measuring the
data.
DOWNLOAD THIS CHART FIGURE 4: AVERAGE TOTAL PAID HOURS FELL MORE STRONGLY FOR
YOUNGER AGE GROUPS OVER THE YEAR
Image .csv .xls
Average paid hours worked for all workers fell 1.5% (0.5 hours), the largest
decrease since 2009.
The largest falls occurred in the age groups 16 to 17 (5.4%) and 18 to 21 years
(3.7%), reflecting the sectors and occupations in which they are employed. In
2020, 28% of 16- to 21-year-olds were employed in jobs in the wholesale and
retail trade sector with another 16% in the accommodation and food sector, areas
of the labour market that saw large falls in actual hours worked (Figure 3) and
have a high proportion of zero-hours contracts and employees furloughed. The
CJRS did include workers employed on zero hours contracts, but the looser bond
between employers and employees in these jobs might have resulted in CJRS
applications not being completed.
In 2020, the achieved Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) sample was
linked to an extract of the CJRS to allow classification of furloughed jobs
receiving reduced pay. Not all jobs could be matched, with a result that the
furloughed jobs in the ASHE is an undercount of approximately 20%. However, it
still provides valuable insight of differences in effect on pay between
different types of employee job.
Table 1 shows the proportion of furloughed employees by working pattern, region,
age group, occupation and industry sector who received a reduced rate of pay as
reported by employers and recorded as "loss of pay" on the survey.
Proportions of furloughed employees with reduced pay reported in this bulletin
are presented as an aid in interpreting the complexities of ASHE pay estimates
for 2020 and should not be used in isolation
Table 1: Percentage of jobs furloughed with reduced pay in April 2020 Furloughed
with reduced
pay¹ (% of all jobs)Total Jobs Description All Employees11%28,619,000
Male13%14,079,000 Female10%14,541,000 Full-time10%19,846,000
Part-time14%8,774,000 North East12%987,000 North West11%2,989,000 Yorkshire and
The Humber12%2,266,000 East Midlands12%1,942,000 West Midlands13%2,345,000 South
West14%2,419,000 East12%2,571,000 London8%4,122,000 South East11%4,332,000
Wales11%1,246,000 Scotland8%2,387,000 Northern Ireland14%1,013,000 16 to
1729%303,000 18 to 2122%1,520,000 22 to 2913%4,753,000 30 to 3910%6,819,000 40
to 499%6,532,000 50 to 599%6,104,000 60 and over13%2,588,000 A: Managers
directors and senior officials8%3,087,000 B: Professional occupations3%6,435,000
C: Associate professional and
technical occupations9%4,391,000 D: Skilled trades occupations9%3,066,000 E:
Process plant and
machine operatives26%2,068,000 F: Administrative and secretarial
occupations9%2,760,000 G: Elementary occupations14%2,200,000 H: Sales and
customer service occupations20%1,540,000 I: Caring leisure and other
service occupations22%3,073,000 Section A: Agriculture, Forestry
and Fishing11%195,000 Section B: Mining and Quarrying*38,000 Section C:
Manufacturing17%2,806,000 Section D: Electricity, Gas, Steam and
Air Conditioning Supply*152,000 Section E: Water Supply; Sewerage,
Waste Management and Remediation Activities10%192,000 Section F:
Construction26%1,117,000 Section G: Wholesale and Retail Trade;
Repair Of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles16%4,165,000 Section H: Transportation
and Storage11%1,137,000 Section I: Accommodation and
Food Service Activities39%1,390,000 Section J: Information and
Communication4%1,139,000 Section K: Financial and Insurance
Activities1%1,062,000 Section L: Real Estate Activities10%413,000 Section M:
Professional, Scientific
and Technical Activities9%2,020,000 Section N: Administrative and
Support Service Activities15%1,616,000 Section O: Public Administration and
Defence; Compulsory Social Security0%1,424,000 Section P: Education2%4,086,000
Section Q: Human Health and
Social Work Activities4%4,431,000 Section R: Arts, Entertainment and
Recreation27%592,000 Section S: Other Service Activities20%542,000
Source: Office for National Statistics – Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings
(ASHE)
Notes
1. Reduced pay in ASHE refers to employees who received pay at a reduced rate
(a ‘loss of pay’) due to absence from work. In the case of furloughed
employees, it covers employees who did not receive a top up to 100% of pay
from their employer.
DOWNLOAD THIS TABLE TABLE 1: PERCENTAGE OF JOBS FURLOUGHED WITH REDUCED PAY IN
APRIL 2020
.xls .csv
FIGURE 5: THE DOWNWARD PRESSURE ON PAY IMPACTED THE LOWEST-PAYING OCCUPATIONS IN
2020, OVERRIDING INCREASES SEEN IN THE PREVIOUS FIVE YEARS DRIVEN BY INCREASES
IN THE NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE
GROWTH IN GROSS WEEKLY FULL-TIME EARNINGS BY OCCUPATION BETWEEN 2019 AND 2020
AND BETWEEN 2015 AND 2019, UK
Created with Highcharts 5.0.7
2015 to 2019
2019 to 2020
All employeesManagers directors and senior officialsProfessional
occupationsAssociate professional and technical occupationsAdministrative and
secretarial occupationsSkilled trades occupationsCaring leisure and other
service occupationsSales and customer service occupationsProcess plant and
machine operativesElementary occupations
-5051015-1020
%
SOURCE: OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS – ANNUAL SURVEY OF HOURS AND EARNINGS
(ASHE)
NOTES:
1. Footnotes applicable to this chart are 1, 2, and 7 in Section 6: Measuring
the data.
DOWNLOAD THIS CHART FIGURE 5: THE DOWNWARD PRESSURE ON PAY IMPACTED THE
LOWEST-PAYING OCCUPATIONS IN 2020, OVERRIDING INCREASES SEEN IN THE PREVIOUS
FIVE YEARS DRIVEN BY INCREASES IN THE NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE
Image .csv .xls
Over the five years to 2019, occupations with typically lower pay experienced
higher growth in earnings, driven by increases in the National Minimum Wage,
which increased by more than 20% during the same period. In 2020, negative pay
growth was experienced in some of these occupations, notably skilled trades
occupations (negative 6.3%, this group containing many employees working in
construction and food services) and process, plant and machine operatives
(negative 5.3%). Smaller weekly pay falls were seen in associate professional
and technical occupations (negative 2.4%) and managers, directors and senior
officials (negative 1.1%). Table 1 provides the proportions of employees
furloughed by occupation.
The interactive chart in Figure 6 allows you to compare earnings across
occupations, in terms of annual pay.
See what the median annual earnings are for your occupation by searching for or
selecting your occupation from the drop-down list in the interactive tool.
FIGURE 6: ANNUAL FULL-TIME GROSS PAY BY OCCUPATION
UK, April 2020
Embed code
Embed this interactive Copy
NOTES
1. Footnotes applicable to this chart are 1, 2, 3 and 7 in Section 6: Measuring
these data.
Download the data
FIGURE 7: ANNUAL PERCENTAGE GROWTH IN GROSS MEDIAN WEEKLY EARNINGS WAS NEGATIVE
FOR THE PRIVATE SECTOR BUT REMAINED POSITIVE FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR, IN APRIL
2020
PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN AVERAGE GROSS MEDIAN WEEKLY EARNINGS FOR FULL-TIME
EMPLOYEES IN THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR, UK, APRIL 1997 TO 2020
Created with Highcharts 5.0.7
Public sector % change in median gross weekly earnings
Private sector % change in median gross weekly earnings
202020182016201420122010200820062004200220001998
-20246
%
SOURCE: OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS – ANNUAL SURVEY OF HOURS AND EARNINGS
(ASHE)
NOTES:
1. Footnotes applicable to this chart are 1 and 2 in Section 6: Measuring the
data.
DOWNLOAD THIS CHART FIGURE 7: ANNUAL PERCENTAGE GROWTH IN GROSS MEDIAN WEEKLY
EARNINGS WAS NEGATIVE FOR THE PRIVATE SECTOR BUT REMAINED POSITIVE FOR THE
PUBLIC SECTOR, IN APRIL 2020
Image .csv .xls
Estimates for April 2020 show the gross median earnings for the public sector
were 2.4% higher than a year ago, whereas pay in the private sector fell 0.6%
over the same period. This is a reversal of the pattern seen since 2016 where
private sector pay growth had outstripped that in the public sector. This
disparity in growth rates can be largely inferred from data presented in Figure
5 and Table 1, where industries that operate predominately in the private
sector, such as construction, hospitality and retail, have seen falls in growth
and have a higher proportion of furloughed workers, while public administration,
education and health have seen modest increases and fewer employees furloughed.
The comparative analysis of private and public sector earnings is complex
because of the different structural characteristics of the sectors. The direct
comparisons of earnings in the two sectors (using mean or median earnings, such
as those in Figure 7) do not consider factors such as job types, employee and
employer characteristics, and job location. The factors affecting the
differences in earnings of the public and private sectors are discussed in more
detail in the article Public and private sector earnings in the UK: 2019 and can
be explored using a selection of regression models that include different
measures of remuneration, inPublic versus private sector earnings in the UK:
2011 to 2017.
FIGURE 8: WEEKLY EARNINGS IN NORTH EAST AND SOUTH WEST, TWO OF THE LOWEST-PAYING
REGIONS, SAW THE LARGEST ANNUAL PERCENTAGE DECREASES
ANNUAL PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN MEDIAN FULL-TIME GROSS WEEKLY EARNINGS BY WORKPLACE
REGIONS AND COUNTRIES, UK, APRIL 2020
Created with Highcharts 5.0.7
North EastEastSouth WestYorkshire and The HumberWalesWest MidlandsSouth
EastUnited KingdomLondonNorthern IrelandNorth WestScotlandEast Midlands
-2-1.5-1-0.500.511.522.53
£ and %
SOURCE: OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS – ANNUAL SURVEY OF HOURS AND EARNINGS
(ASHE)
NOTES:
1. Footnotes applicable to this chart are 1, 2 and 3 in Section 6: Measuring
the data.
DOWNLOAD THIS CHART FIGURE 8: WEEKLY EARNINGS IN NORTH EAST AND SOUTH WEST, TWO
OF THE LOWEST-PAYING REGIONS, SAW THE LARGEST ANNUAL PERCENTAGE DECREASES
Image .csv .xls
In April 2020, London topped the regional list for median earnings for all
employees by place of work, at £640 per week. The median here is £141 more per
week than the next highest, the South East (£498), and £161 more than the median
for the whole of the UK (£479). The high pay in London reflects a high
proportion of its labour force being employed in high-paying industries and
occupations and will also be impacted by allowances for some employees working
in the capital.
East Midlands and Scotland saw the highest estimated growth, at 2.6% and 2.5%
respectively. Six regions saw negative growth, with the North East (negative
1.4%) and South West (negative 1.0%) recording the largest falls.
The interactive chart in Figure 9 allows you to view the median pay levels in
all local authorities.
Find what the median gross weekly pay is in your area by searching for or
selecting an area from the drop-down list in the interactive chart.
FIGURE 9: MEDIAN GROSS WEEKLY EARNINGS FOR FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES FOR ALL LOCAL
AUTHORITIES BY PLACE OF WORK
Embed code
Embed this interactive Copy
NOTES:
1. Footnotes applicable to this chart are 1, 2, and 3 in Section 6: Measuring
these data.
Download the data
Back to table of contents
4. EMPLOYEE EARNINGS DATA
A detailed set of data tabulations containing employee earnings estimates from
the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) broken down by aspects such as
age, region, occupation and industry are available.
Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings: 2020 provisional and 2019 revised results
Dataset | Released 3 November 2020
The tables show employee earnings estimates as outlined in the ASHE guide to
tables.
Back to table of contents
5. GLOSSARY
FULL-TIME AND PART-TIME
Full-time is defined as employees working more than 30 paid hours per week (or
25 or more for the teaching professions). Part-time is defined as employees
working less than or equal to 30 paid hours per week (or less than 25 hours for
the teaching professions).
MEDIAN
A measure of the average. The median is calculated by identifying the exact
middle point in a set of observations. When the observations are ranked from
lowest to highest, the median is the value in the exact middle of the observed
values. It is the Office for National Statistics' preferred measure of average
earnings as it is less affected by a relatively small number of very high
earners than is the mean.
NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE AND NATIONAL LIVING WAGE
The National Minimum Wage (NMW) is a minimum amount per hour that most workers
in the UK are entitled to be paid. There are different rates of minimum wage
depending on a worker's age and whether they are an apprentice. The NMW applies
to employees aged between 16 and 24 years. The government's National Living Wage
(NLW) was introduced on 1 April 2016 and applies to employees aged 25 years and
over.
On the ASHE reference date in April 2020, the NMW and NLW rates were:
* £8.72 for employees aged 25 years and over
* £8.20 for employees aged 21 to 24 years
* £6.45 for employees aged 18 to 20 years
* £4.55 for employees aged 16 to 17 years
* £4.15 for apprentices aged 16 to 18 years and those aged 19 years or over who
are in the first year of their apprenticeship.
REAL EARNINGS
Real earnings (earnings adjusted for inflation) are calculated by adjusting
nominal (unadjusted) earnings using the CPIH (Consumer Prices Index including
owner occupiers' housing costs). The CPIH is the most comprehensive measure of
inflation. It extends the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) to include a measure of
the costs associated with owning, maintaining and living in one's own home,
known as owner occupiers' housing costs (OOH), along with Council Tax.
STANDARD OCCUPATIONAL CLASSIFICATION (SOC)
The Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) is a common classification of
occupational information for the UK.
Back to table of contents
6. MEASURING THE DATA
The estimates in this bulletin are based on information gathered from a sample
of 1% of employees in the UK.
All estimates for 2020 are provisional and relate to the pay period that
includes 22 April 2020, at which time approximately 8.8 million employees were
furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). Furloughed
employee jobs received 80% of normal pay from the scheme, to a maximum £2,500 a
month. Employers were able to top up employees' pay, but they were not required
to; the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has estimated that approximately a
half of employees had their pay topped up.
The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) collected actual payments made to
the employee and the hours on which this pay was calculated, which in the case
of furloughed employees would be their usual hours (as included in the CJRS
claim).
The survey includes a question "Did the employee earn less in the pay period due
to absence from work?" for which, in most years, approximately 5% of employees
are recorded as "yes". The ASHE datasets exclude these employees on the basis of
them being temporarily on the margins of the labour market. In 2020 the weighted
percentage recorded as "yes" was over 17%, reflecting numerous furloughed
employees whose pay was not topped up. These employees are more likely to be
employed in lower-paid jobs and if we were to exclude them from our estimates,
we would be falsely inflating pay estimates. Given this, we have revised the
exclusion criteria for the 2020 datasets to be "those employees who were not
furloughed but whose pay was affected by absence". This results in the ASHE
datasets excluding 6% of employee jobs in 2020 (compared with approximately 5%
in previous years); the profile of jobs excluded in 2020 is similar to 2019, in
that in both years these jobs have a mean pay of less than two-thirds of that
among all jobs, are more likely to be held by women, employees aged 20 to 39
years, and have a similar profile of occupations.
The achieved sample size on ASHE is approximately 180,000 each year. In 2020,
there were challenges to data collection, centering on lower response from
companies and challenges in validating returns in the time available. The final
achieved sample size is 136,000. Given the smaller sample size and potential
skew to companies with stronger financial basis, the ONS investigated whether
industry should be added to the weighting strata. However, analysis indicated
that this would have little impact, and could produce instability because of
smaller achieved sample sizes within the numerous calibration strata that would
be created. Therefore, the standard ASHE weighting approach has been retained,
calibrating to occupation, age, sex and region strata. However, ASHE estimates
for 2020 are subject to more uncertainty than usual as a result of the
challenges we faced in collecting the data under government-imposed public
health restrictions.
Estimates from the 2019 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) survey have
been subject to small revisions since the provisional estimates were published
on 29 October 2019.
For the charts in this bulletin, the following notes apply:
1 Estimates for 2020 data are provisional.
2 Employees are on adult rates, pay is unaffected by absence (in 2020 employees
are on adult rates, pay is unaffected by absence unless furloughed).
3 Full-time is defined as employees working more than 30 paid hours per week (or
25 or more for the teaching professions).
4 The data have been adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Prices Index
including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH). The CPIH figures are based on
the All Items Consumer Prices Index (including owner occupiers' housing costs)
of inflation for April.
5 Dashed lines represent discontinuities in 2004, 2006 and 2011.
6 For each growth rate on the horizontal axis, the curve indicates the
cumulative proportion of employees who experienced real earnings growth at that
rate.
7 Occupations as defined by the Standard Occupational Classification 2010.
A guide to interpreting ASHE estimates is available and addresses common
questions about the data. Further information about ASHE can be found in quality
and methodology on our Guidance and methodology page and in the Quality and
Methodology Information (QMI) report.
Back to table of contents
7. STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS
The strengths and limitations of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE)
can be found in the Quality and Methodology Information (QMI) report and the
Guide to sources of data of earnings and income.
Back to table of contents
8. RELATED LINKS
Earnings and working hours
Office for National Statistics (ONS) employee earnings and hours worked home
page.
An overview of and comparison between Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE)
and Average Weekly Earnings (AWE): 2017
Article | Release 14 September 2017
An overview of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings and Average Weekly
Earnings, comparing the differences between the two headline outputs.
UK labour market
Bulletin | Monthly
Estimates of employment, unemployment, economic inactivity and other
employment-related statistics for the UK.
Public and private sector earnings in the UK: 2019
Article | Released 23 September 2020
The results of statistical models that explore the relationship between mean
hourly earnings and a range of independent variables, based on Annual Survey of
Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2017 provisional results data.
Index of Labour Costs per Hour, UK
Bulletin | Quarterly
Changes in the cost of employing labour, analysed by sector and industry.
Back to table of contents
View all data used in this Statistical bulletin
CONTACT DETAILS FOR THIS STATISTICAL BULLETIN
Roger Smith
earnings@ons.gov.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)1633 456120
FOOTER LINKS
HELP
* Accessibility
* Cookies
* Privacy
* Terms and conditions
ABOUT ONS
* What we do
* Careers
* Contact us
* Freedom of Information
CONNECT WITH US
* Twitter
* Facebook
* LinkedIn
* Email alerts
All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where
otherwise stated