Average Earnings
(asked on 13th March 2018) - View Source
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the percentage change in average earnings between (1) 1987 and 1992, (2) 1992 and 1997, (3) 1998 and 2003, and (4) 2004 and 2009.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from John Pullinger CB, National Statistician, to Baroness Primarolo, dated 20 March 2018
Dear Baroness Primarolo,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am replying to your Parliamentary Question asking what was the percentage change in average earnings between (1) 1987 and 1992, (2) 1992 and 1997, (3) 1998 and 2003, and (4) 2004 and 2009 (HL6310).
Table 1 provides estimates of median gross weekly earnings for adult full time employees in Great Britain for April each year. The estimates from 1997 onwards are drawn from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings and prior to that from its predecessor, the New Earnings Survey. Although the methodologies between the two surveys created some discontinuities in the published results, the differences are tolerable and the resulting series will be of benefit to those interested in changes in earnings statistics over a long period.
Table 1: Median gross weekly earnings, full time employees in Great Britain whose pay was unaffected during the reference period[1],[2],[3],[4]
Median gross weekly earnings, April of each years | Percentage change in gross weekly earnings between the two quoted years |
1987 - £175.1 1992 - £264.6 | 51.1% |
1992 - £264.6 1997 - £321.5 | 21.5% |
1998 - £335.8 2003 - £405.2 | 20.7% |
2004 - £420.3 2009 - £489.9 | 16.6% |
Yours sincerely,
John Pullinger
[1] Estimates prior to 1997 are drawn from the New Earnings Survey
[2] From 2004 there was improved coverage added to the Annual Survey for Hours and Earnings. This had some impact on estimates: the median gross weekly earnings estimate for 2004 excluding that improved coverage was £424.2 (compared with £420.3 including it).
[3] Estimates in Table 1 are drawn from: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/adhocs/006302annualsurveyofhoursandearningsashetimeseriesofmediangrossweeklyearningsfrom1968to2016
[4] Percentage changes are calculated from the median gross weekly earnings figures in the table, which are rounded to one decimal place. This may result in percentage changes being under or overstated, by up to one decimal % point.