UK's well-paid jobs hit lowest point as minimum wage set to jump
British workforce sees dramatic shift as high-paying positions drop to unprecedented levels since late 90s. Government plans big minimum-wage boost while preparing new tax measures for top earners
Latest stats from ONS show UKʼs well-paid jobs have hit bottom-line numbers since records started in late 90s
The portion of high-income workers (making over £25.63 per-hour) dropped to 22.7% - down from its peak of 26.4% about 12 years ago. Meanwhile Rachel Reeves plans to boost minimum wage by 6.7% next spring; some younger staff might see up-to 18% raises
Tech-sector cuts and banking lay-offs combined with high-inflation have sped up the decline of top-paying positions. Luke Hildyard from High Pay Centre points out that companies focus on helping lower-paid staff through cost-of-living issues: this might explain the shift
The job market shows interesting trends: lower-paid workers (those getting under £11.39 hourly) now make just 3.4% of total workforce compared to 9.8% last year. Social-care and customer-service jobs got biggest raises - beating manager and director positions in growth
For so-called high-earners who actually arent so far above the middle of the earnings distribution‚ policymakers certainly should and would want their pay to be growing
Jack Kennedy‚ Indeedʼs senior economist notes: “Higher-paid categories have seen quiet modest increases lately; wage growth mainly happens at markets bottom-end“. New tax rules might include frozen income brackets and higher employer costs (which some call a job-tax)
