Posted: Wednesday 15 June 2011
Money, Money, Money
Following the depressing news at the beginning of the last financial quarter that pay had fallen 5% in real terms since 2009, there have been several interesting articles recently about wages.
Those apparently suffering particular salary doldrums are public sector workers. Following widely reported pay freezes throughout the sector, Unions now expect around 750,000 public sector workers to strike - partly motivated by the lack of any growth in wages.
Also doing badly are those under the age of 30 - workers in this group are reportedly seeing their wages fall by 5% since 2008, compared with a fall of 3% for over 30s, according to the Institute for Employment Studies.
At the other end of the pay scale, Lady Gaga is one person under the age of 30 not feeling the wages pinch. A study by Forbes revealed that the 25 year old is the highest paid celebrity under the age of 30, having earned £55 million last year. There has also been confirmation, if confirmation was needed, that Premiership footballers earn a lot of money. In fact, teams in England's Premiership spend more on their wage bills than teams in equivalent leagues in any other country. Manchester City spend £133 million on player's wages - 107% of their total revenue - and even this is dwarfed by Chelsea's £174 million wage bill.
I will keep you updated on the public sector industrial action which is likely to be the big story of the next few weeks...
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