Employee earnings data

The Office for National Statistics this morning published the data below on employee earnings in 2023. Any thoughts, send them across ASAP as this story is BREAKING.

• Median weekly earnings for full-time employees was £682 in April 2023, which is a 6.2% increase over the £642 in April 2022; this is the highest growth since comparable records began in 1997.
• In April 2023, median weekly earnings for full-time employees fell by 1.5% on the year in real terms (adjusted for inflation using Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH)).
• Median weekly earnings for full-time employees saw growth across all major occupational groups, particularly for lower-paying occupations (with caring, leisure and other service occupations up 9.4% and sales and customer service occupations up 9.2% compared with the previous year).
• In April 2023, median weekly earnings for full-time employees increased across all sector-level industries when compared with April 2022, with the highest growth seen in the wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles industry (8.6%).
• In April 2023, annual percentage growth in gross median weekly earnings for full-time employees was 7.7% in the private sector and 3.7% in the public sector.
• Median gross annual earnings for full-time employees was £34,963 in April 2023, which is a 5.8% increase over the £33,061 in April 2022.
• The proportion of low-paid employee jobs (based on hourly pay) fell to 8.9% in 2023 from 10.7% in 2022, the lowest since the series began in 1997, with the proportion of high-paid employee jobs falling 0.4 percentage points on-the-year to 23.4% in 2023. 
• Average hourly pay in 2023 has increased for all percentiles year-on-year, but there is a larger increase in the lower deciles.  
• The lowest-earning employees tend to be younger, aged between 16 and 21 years, and in the elementary occupations or in the hospitality industry. 
• The highest-earning employees are concentrated in the managerial and professional occupations, aged between 35 and 49 years, or work in the information and communication, and finance and insurance service industries.
• The number of jobs paid below the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage is 366,000 (1.3%) employee jobs.