Wages Today......quite staggering when you think about it.
- Thread starter Dave7
- Start date
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Archie_tect
De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
- Location
- Northumberland
An example of the effects of austerity and pay freezes in the construction sector:
When I started my own office in 1995 I got paid £120 per house by the national housebuilders to apply for planning permission for developments. At the time that was also the application fee charged per house by the Local Councils.
Move forward 25 years... [25 years note!] and the housbuilders STILL pay me £120 per house to submit for planning [that's due to competition from other designers who in cutting their fees to get work force me to work for the same, so housebuilders can manipulate costs from their self-employed contractors]. On the inflation calculator my £120 fee should be £234 allowing for inflation which means I get half as much money now for doing considerably more work, due to the changes in planning, required now.
Meanwhile the Local Councils' application fee per house is £365.... 50% more than the rise due to inflation, because planning fees are one of the few ways Councils can claw back some money [which isn't paid back to central government] due to austerity cuts elsewhere.
The housebuilders are raking money in and making massive profits as they control housing supply and they are responsible for the mess the construction sector is while their directors make multi-million pound annual bonuses. [Read the Ragged Trousered Philanthropist for a timely correlation with the continuation of rip-off Britain]
... and breathe.
When I started my own office in 1995 I got paid £120 per house by the national housebuilders to apply for planning permission for developments. At the time that was also the application fee charged per house by the Local Councils.
Move forward 25 years... [25 years note!] and the housbuilders STILL pay me £120 per house to submit for planning [that's due to competition from other designers who in cutting their fees to get work force me to work for the same, so housebuilders can manipulate costs from their self-employed contractors]. On the inflation calculator my £120 fee should be £234 allowing for inflation which means I get half as much money now for doing considerably more work, due to the changes in planning, required now.
Meanwhile the Local Councils' application fee per house is £365.... 50% more than the rise due to inflation, because planning fees are one of the few ways Councils can claw back some money [which isn't paid back to central government] due to austerity cuts elsewhere.
The housebuilders are raking money in and making massive profits as they control housing supply and they are responsible for the mess the construction sector is while their directors make multi-million pound annual bonuses. [Read the Ragged Trousered Philanthropist for a timely correlation with the continuation of rip-off Britain]
... and breathe.
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roubaixtuesday
self serving virtue signaller
If you look at GDP per capita growth, it's actually a similar amount or less today ie youth are shafted slightly more today.
Different times I know, but when I started on the railway as an apprentice in 1974, I was on 45p per hour which equated to £18 pounds per week before stoppages. I could earn more when rostered on a saturday and Sunday, which meant the following week I took home £12.50
carlosfandangus
Über Member
At the age of 16 I was paid approx 1/4 of a tradesman's wage, I appreciate that I was learning the trade and had no real production, this does not happen today.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
I think when I joined the army in 1987 the salary was equivalent to about £3 an hour, and out of that we still had to contribute towards food and lodging, which most people erroneously think soldiers get for free.
Beebo
Firm and Fruity
- Location
- Hexleybeef
As the OP says. Everyone gets the same £9 rate. So there is zero career progression and no incentive to do your job well.
it’s counter intuitive to a successful business, staff need to know there is a ladder. Older , more experienced workers should be paid more.
swee'pea99
Legendary Member
"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."I don’t even know what that means
Adam4868
Guru
35 quid a week my appenteship paid when I left school and I quickly learned to hate it ! Did my four years and went to travel the world for over 10 years on and off.Had a variety of jobs a lot good and a lot more bad,but they served their purpose.
I'm not sure those opportunities are as easy now,plenty of zero hour shoot paid jobs out there now.Like it or lump it so to speak and not the same career prospects to go with them.
I'm not sure those opportunities are as easy now,plenty of zero hour shoot paid jobs out there now.Like it or lump it so to speak and not the same career prospects to go with them.
Archie_tect
De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
- Location
- Northumberland
Too many employers treat the minimum wage as their excuse to make it the maximum wage and with few alternatives they can get away with it.
BoldonLad
Not part of the Elite
- Location
- South Tyneside
Oh dear @Dave7, I hope you have the Hovis out, and the Rose tinted spectacles!My grandaughter is 16 and at college. She has just got a weekend job as a 'house keeper' in a sheltered home type place.
£9.00 PER HOUR.
When I was 15 I worked 40 hours a week for £4.50 (thats £4 10 shillings in real money). Its hard to equate that.
We must be roughly same age, first job paid £3 9s 2d (£3.46). Mind you, pint of beer was 10d, (4.5p). Not that I drank of course, at 16, that would be against the law
carlosfandangus
Über Member
Talking about beer price, I cant remember the cost, however I can remember walking into a pub with my grandfather when I was about 15/16 and he gave me a pound note with the instruction " get yourself a pint, one for me, one for your Uncle Bill and 3 packets of crisps, make sure I get the change"
I think that was a big mistake, making a minimum wage. As you state it has become the wage.
That is the issue
Minimum wage should be for a zero skill, sedentary job.
A job you can learn how to do in under one shift and that does not involve doing much
A new, young, Security guard with no responsibility would be an example.
So why are waitresses (for example) being paid minimum wage ?
I'd like the Treasury to start looking at shops and restaurants (and many others) and taxing the company on the basis of proper pay for staff.
For example - we expect a young waitress to be on a minimum wage plus 20%, so we will be taxing you on that minimum basis.
