The best and worst paid jobs over last year are published
DETAILS of best and worst paid jobs over the last year have been published and show a massive gulf between the UK’S highest and lowest workers.
Chief executives and senior officials are unsurprisingly the best paid workers in the UK, picking up pay cheques of £121,434 a year on average. While leisure and theme park attendants are the worst paid, with an average wage of just £14,064.
The data from the Office for National Statistics data places marketing, sales and advertising directors as the next highest earners with a wage of £95,818, financial managers and directors next at £91,853 and specialist medical practitioners in fourth place picking up £83,482 a year on average.
Waiters and waitresses are the second lowest earners on £16,568, with car staff not far behind with an average £16,699 salary, followed by teaching assistants on £17,747 and educational support assistants earning £18,032. The wages for lower end education workers are in sharp contrast to the wages picked up by headteachers and principals, who pick up a wage of £74,104.
The list does throw up one or two surprises though, with train and tram drivers making into the list of top earners with an average wage of £59,203 and driving instructors earning a place in the top 20 on £54,712.
The figures also reveal the current cost of living crisis has had an impact on workers right across the board. Average weekly pay for full-time employees did increase by 5% to £640 in 2022 before inflation is taken into account. But prices have risen so much that people are actually worse off, with weekly pay for full-time employees actually fell by 2.6% in real terms in the last year.
Workers at the lower end of the scale are also being hit particularly hard, as there are fewer jobs available according to the ONS, which says proportion of low-paid employee jobs also fell to 10.5% in 2022, the lowest since records began in 1997.And 509,000 people were paid below the National Minimum Wage in 2022, compared with 409,000 in 2019.
The figures were published by the ONS as part of its Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings survey. However, the ONS admits that any year-on-year changes in the data could be skewed, as the coronavirus pandemic and furlough would have had an impact on 2020 and 2021 results.
Here’s the full list of highest and lowest paid jobs in 2022:
Top 20 highest paying jobs in 2022
Chief executives and senior officials £121,434
Marketing, sales and advertising directors -£95,818
Financial managers and directors £91,853
Specialist medical practitioners £83,482
Information technology directors £82,363
Functional managers and directors £75,477
Head teachers and principals £74,104
Aircraft pilots and air traffic controllers - £72,131
Senior police officers - £64,110 Senior officers in fire, ambulance, prison and related services - £63,591 Solicitors and lawyers - £62,939 Production managers and directors in manufacturing - £60,156
Train and tram drivers - £59,203 Taxation experts - £59,105 Research and development (R&D) managers - £57,059
IT managers - £56,199
IT business analysts, architects and systems designers - £55,346
Business and financial project management professionals - £55,124
Purchasing managers and directors £54,862
Driving instructors - £54,712
Top 20 lowest paying jobs in 2022
Leisure and theme park attendants £14,064
Waiters and waitresses - £16,568 Bar staff - £16,699
Teaching assistants - £17,747 Educational support assistants £18,032
Hairdressers and barbers - £18,290 Kitchen and catering assistants £18,397
Launderers, dry cleaners and pressers - £18,577
Early education and childcare practitioners - £18,665
Pharmacy and optical dispensing assistants - £18,821
Retail cashiers and check-out operators - £18,893
Beauticians and related occupations - £19,211
Early education and childcare assistants - £19,577
Cleaners and domestics - £19,792 Playworkers - £20,033 Collector salespersons and credit agents - £20,038
Bar and catering supervisors £20,245
Cooks - £20,253
Hospital porters - £20,396 School midday and crossing patrol occupations - £20,592