Average Salary Information for the UK

By Monster Contributor

Salaries can be tricky to discuss with your employer, especially if you are in an interview situation and you don't yet have a confirmed job offer. Understanding your worth can be powerful in helping you to negotiate well, whether you are in a job or looking for one. It can:

  • Show acumen. If your job is commercial and you have a good idea of the average wage in your field, then this is likely to show off your research and negotiation skills.
  • Progress your career. Being underpaid is a good reason to start looking for employment opportunities elsewhere. If you think your pay is low for your job description and location, then check it against the salary calculator.
  • Provide better comparisons. Knowing the average salary from government statistics rarely affords accurate information for comparisons. Check salaries by your nearest city average or by the number of employees to gain statistical clarity.
  • Help switch careers. Getting to grips with what you are ever going to earn in your chosen industry sector may make you opt for retraining so that you can switch career paths and earn more in the future.
  • Diminish inequality. Gender and other forms of inequality in pay still exist. To overcome them, you need to understand what people are being paid in comparable jobs within other organisations.
  • Filter jobs. When looking for employment, understanding your market worth will help you to discard certain job opportunities as being too underpaid to meet your financial expectations.

Remember that the average salary in the UK is a marker and should be treated as nothing more. Additional research from a salary calculator is needed to factor in everything else that goes into your package. Pensions schemes, holiday entitlement, bonuses and flexible working patterns all need to be taken into account alongside your basic level of pay.

More Resources from Monster:

We have graphs on average wages by gender, experience, company size, employment type, city and industry. If you want to find out the average salary for your specific job and location, try out our Salary Calculator or take the full PayScale survey.

Average UK Salary by Gender

Average UK Salary by Number of Years’ Experience

Average UK Salary by Company Size (number of employees)

Average UK Salary by Employment Status

Average UK Salary by City

Average UK Salary by Industry

Try out the Salary Calculator or take the full PayScale survey.