Here’s something to bear in mind in the future the next time someone’s talking shit on TV. The following is a link to the Office of National Statistics “Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2012” for the United Kingdom. The government, and all media, continually refer to this when talking about average earnings. Thus, average earnings in Britain are always consistent with the report, which considers them thus:

However, if you look at the reality, London and the South East completely distort this picture, as acknowledged by page 20 of the report:



In fact, the so-called average wage for the UK is higher than the actual average wage in every single region of the country apart from London and the South East. The real average for most of the country is about £450 circa £23,400. This is a classic example of a way that statistics are used to deliberately mislead people, and also that the media almost singularly fails to say anything relevant about this. You can read a BBC and Daily Telegraph article here about the average salary in the UK, both mention that London is the highest paid region, but have absolutely nothing relevant to say about this whatsoever.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20442666

www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/89...-high-inflation.html

Obviously this is partly because they write all of their articles from press releases without even reading the report.

Even if the average is 26 or 27k its still shit for a so called first world nation

Whatever the figure, it is meaningless without reference to the cost of living.

Talking about this with my partner this morning. It seems companies are still making huge profits but with less and less people involved.
Less staff in stores and banks etc, automated tills, on-line stuff, and even companies "help lines" are automated. As an aside, customer-service is almost non-existent these days.

andyh wrote: Also, the modal average is the minimum wage; this is definitely the most commonly paid salary in the UK. This would be about £13K (but yet if you're a single person and earn 13K, you're 'too well paid' to receive tax credits!).
Verlander wrote: Yes, you're totally correct, obviously it goes without saying that inflation is well, well above the levels being reported. Everyone is getting poorer without doubt.jhado wrote: I try to avoid supermakets, but I was in a Sainsbury's in a station quite recently, and I was staggered how easily people have been trained to use those automatic tills. I actually went straight to the front of the queue just because I used the one till that was staffed by actual people. Everyone else would seemingly rather use a machine. It was absolutely insane.

I had my usual chat with the lady in Sainsbury about auto-tills taking jobs etc only yesterday. I feel I am wasting breath on these people.

jhado wrote:

Yeah most of em just blink like dumb fucks...its depressing tbh

They get battered over the head with corporate propaganda all day, every day, and everyone they mix with, all of their peers, are in exactly the same position. They just don't come into contact with an alternative view. It's difficult to be optimistic, but it's good that you still take the time to try to speak to them on these matters because if you don't probably no-one else will.

jhado wrote:
I remember when the Happytohelpers stared through me when I responded to their suggestion of using the self-serve tills with "2 minutes more of my time to keep someone in a job is fine thanks"

Verlander wrote:
Very true, that said given the UK's taxes along with shit wages it puts it well in the shit bracket.

Ireland has no council tax for example, average salary is around 36000 euro or 30000 sterling. IT workers are frequently topping 50000 even for low end experienced jobs. Rents are even cheaper and you don't need a credit check, there are no water bills.
From my time over there I'll readily admit food prices are slightly higher but you're talking about 5 or 6% so the overall result is joe average is much much better off. Even their benefits system pays more than the UK, helps to have a smaller population in that regard though.

You basically have to look at the overall cost of living as verlander says. Its shameful really as the UK should be one of the best in Europe rather than halfway down the league table at best.

This thread got me going, I am just back from a Tesco and Asda, been doing a bit of preaching to the masses. Amazin everyone in the queue
at Tesco agreed with me. Had the check-out manager thinking beyond his corporate programming too

Taking wages as a sign of wealth, Scotland is next after London and the South West. However, Scottish wages are also skewed by the high pay in the oil industry.

It's a complex subject. Many Irish people have complained about their average wages figure being "right-skewed", i.e. a few high earners distorting the average in a country with only one-tenth the population of the UK.

jhado wrote:
I did that in Tescos once, but the Manager just sort of scowled at me. I did threaten to piss in his machine though...so, you know.