New figures revealed
The Employment Election 2017 study, by the world’s largest job site, Indeed, has found that nearly half of UK workers think a salary of £80,000 means you are rich.
The Labour manifesto has proposed a new 45 per cent tax rate on those earning over £80,000 and a 50 per cent rate for those earning over £123,000. The £80,000 threshold is more than three times the UK’s average wage of £28,000.
The mean average of all those surveyed, suggests that on average the UK believes that you’re rich if you earn £134,170 per year.
Six in ten of young people aged 25-34 believe those with a salary of up to £80,000 are rich. The figure for those aged 65+ is barely half that highlighting the different expectations between millennials on lower salaries at the start of their career, and baby boomers who have likely experienced their peak salary already.
The regional variation is no less stark. On average, residents of Wales believe a salary of £91,681 means you are rich. In the South East, the average is £162,844, 78 per cent higher than in Wales. The region with the largest gap between perception of what is rich, and local wage levels is Yorkshire and Humberside, which says £136,081 is needed to be rich, but has a 90th percentile wage nearly one third this amount at £47,584.
| 1 | South East | £162,844 |
| 2 | London | £149,180 |
| 3 | Eastern England | £141,807 |
| 4 | Yorkshire & Humberside | £136,081 |
| 5 | West Midlands | £134,747 |
| 6 | North West | £130,504 |
| 7 | North East | £127,773 |
| 8 | Scotland | £123,241 |
| 9 | East Midlands | £120,192 |
| 10 | South West | £112,023 |
| 11 | Wales | £91,681 |
Mariano Mamertino, EMEA economist at global job site Indeed, comments: “The labour market is creating jobs at a steady rate and unemployment is at its lowest level for more than four decades. But wages have stagnated and British output per worker continues to languish below international trends and far behind that of many other European countries. The gap between earning the UK average wage of £28k and earning £80k will feel hard to bridge for many.
“Jobs are a perennial election issue – but this time the battle lines are being drawn not around those who are out of work, but those who are in work and seeing their living standards begin to slide.
“The research also shows major differences in salary expectations between baby boomers and millennials, which reflect their respective position at very different stages of the working career. As the nation goes to the polls, turnout amongst young voters is set to be a key determinant of the result.”
