THE REAL UK NATIONAL AVERAGE SALARY

28/11/2005

• UK wage packets are £2,300 lighter than they might seem
• Having a job in Britain costs £2,300 Before a finger is even lifted
• Although the average salary is officially estimated at £22,2481, when the costs associated with having a job have been deducted, the average UK worker earns around £19,970 per year
• These costs include food (£30 per week), travel (£50 per month) and work clothing (£35 per month)
• In addition, work also takes up a great deal of our own time, with the average worker spending sixteen days a year getting ready for and travelling to work
• The majority of Brits feel underpaid and believe that an extra £5,000 would make them happy
• Office Christmas parties not subsidised by the company will cost the average worker £35 this year

While official estimates put the average national salary at £22,248, the true average is actually £19,970, according to a new study released by debit card Maestro today. The figure - around £2,300 less - takes into account the amount of money the average worker spends on getting to and being at their place of work2.

Over the course of a working week, the average worker will spend almost £30 just on food with £4 going on breakfast, £6 on tea and coffee, £5 on snack food and around £12 on lunching with colleagues. When multiplied over the working year, this means that food at work costs us around £1200 annually.

Yet these are not the only costs associated with having a job, as travelling to and from the workplace costs us a further £50 per month, while spending on clothing for work amounts to £35 per month. This puts the total cost of going to work at around £2,300 each year.

Work-related spending patterns are not uniform across the sexes. Women spend around £50 more than men on clothes for work each month and are also far more prolific snackers, forking out almost £6 per week on snacks compared to the £4 spent by men. However, men spend more on breakfast and lunch each week, munching their way through £18 compared to the £12 consumed by women.

Across the country, those in the north of England are shown to be the biggest eaters, spending £35 on food each week rather than the average of £20. They also appear to be the most caffeine dependent, spending almost twice as much on their espressos and cappuccinos (£11) than everyone else (national average £6).

Time is money

Workers may also be spending more of their personal time on work-related activity than they realise. The statistics show that the average person spends just under an hour preparing to leave the house each morning and when this ordeal is complete, they will spend another hour travelling to and from work. Some 15 per cent live over an hour from their workplaces, meaning they spend over ten hours a week (that's eighteen days a year) in transit.

When calculated over the entire year, the average worker will annually spend a total of around sixteen days of personal time on work-related activity, before they have even clocked on.

Nigel Turner, Marketing Director at Maestro UK, said: "It is clear that going to work can be costly and people need to take this into account when planning how to spend their take-home pay.

"People can save money at work by making lunch at home, limiting the amount of coffee they buy, and cycling or walking to work wherever possible. This way, they can make the most of their hard-earned cash."

Workplace socialising

Around half of UK workers regularly enjoy winding down after a hard day by socialising with colleagues, spending an average of around £50 in the pub each month. At no time is this more prevalent than in the build-up to Christmas. The majority of the UK plans to kick up its heels at work this Christmas, with 65 per cent of UK workers looking forward to a Christmas celebration on the company. However, only 24 per cent of that total will get a completely free night out, with 18 per cent having to make a contribution to costs and the remaining 22 per cent having to bear the entire cost themselves.

For those who have to pay, the average Christmas party spend is £35 including drinks and transport and in addition to this, those who invest in a new outfit will spend an average of £55 ensuring that they look their best, to increase the chances of a quick kiss under the mistletoe.

Scotland takes its Christmas parties more seriously than the rest of the UK with the average spend on the night amounting to £40.

Helping to ease this burden slightly is the annual bonus which, for those lucky enough to receive them, will average out at around £230 per person this year. In addition to this, while most people (65 per cent) get no special days off for Christmas, 30 per cent will receive extra days off to spend with family, go Christmas shopping or nurse the festive hangovers.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Research was conducted by YouGov among a sample of 2,120 people across Great Britain
1 Source: Office for National Statistics
2 Figure calculated using the exact number of days spent at work:
365 - weekend days - average number of sick days - average amount of paid leave - number of public holidays = 221.6 days spent at work

For further information, please contact:
Lindsay Freedman
Weber Shandwick
Tel: 020 7067 0764
E-mail: lfreedman@webershandwick.com


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