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

October 29 2024, 09:00 PM  •  180 views

UK's well-paid jobs hit lowest point as minimum wage set to jump

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

High Pay Centreʼs Luke Hildyard states

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)