Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings: 2011 (based on SOC 2010)

• This bulletin provides 2011 ASHE results on a Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) 2010 basis

• Earnings estimates under SOC 2010 are lower than for the same period under the previous classification, SOC 2000. The SOC 2010 figure for median full-time gross weekly earnings is £498, 0.5 per cent lower than the SOC 2000 figure of £501

• The impact of the move to SOC 2010 is greater for women's earnings estimates than for men's. The full-time median gender pay gap is 10.5 per cent, compared with 9.1 per cent under SOC 2000

• In April 2011 median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees were £498

• For men, full-time earnings were £538, compared with £440 for women

• Median gross weekly earnings for all employees were £400

• Median gross annual earnings for full-time employees (including those whose pay was affected by absence) were £26,100

• Median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees were highest in London at £649 and lowest in Northern Ireland at £446

• There were 297 thousand jobs paid below the National Minimum Wage held by people aged 16 and over, which constitutes 1.2 per cent of all employee jobs in the labour market

The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) is based on a 1 per cent sample of employee jobs. This is drawn from HM Revenue and Customs Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records. ASHE collects information on the levels, distribution and make-up of earnings and hours paid. Results are produced for various industrial, occupational and geographic breakdowns, as well as by public and private sectors and age groups. This bulletin contains provisional ASHE estimates, Low Pay estimates and pensions tables from the 2011 survey.

In 2011 the Office for National Statistics replaced the Standard Occupational Classification 2000 (SOC 2000) with the Standard Occupational Classification 2010 (SOC 2010). Since the SOC forms part of the methodology by which ASHE data are weighted to produce estimates for the UK, two full sets of results have been produced for 2011. This publication provides results on a SOC 2010 basis for the first time. They are the first in a new time-series and should not be used in comparisons with earlier years.

2011 ASHE Results were first published on a SOC 2000 basis on 23 November 2011. Those results provide time-series continuity with earlier years, but they should not be used to calculate growth in earnings into 2012.

Median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees were £498. Men's median full-time weekly earnings were £538, compared with £440 for women.

Median gross weekly earnings for part-time employees were £153. For women, the figure was £156, compared with £143 for men. Median gross weekly earnings for all employee jobs, regardless of whether the employee was full-time or part-time, were £400.

For the tax year ending 5 April 2011 the median gross annual earnings for full-time employees were £26,100. For men, the figure was £28,400, while for women the figure was £22,600.

Excluding overtime, median hourly earnings of full-time employees on adult rates of pay whose earnings were not affected by absence were £12.56 per hour. The median hourly earnings of men were £13.11, compared with £11.74 for women.

Gender pay differences

The earnings of women relative to men vary according to whether an employee is full-time or part-time. Median hourly earnings, excluding overtime, of part-time employees were 36.6 per cent less than the earnings of full-time employees in April 2011. At the same time the UK employee workforce consisted of approximately 12.8 million males (51 per cent of workforce) and 12.3 million females (49 per cent of workforce).

For male employees, 88 per cent worked full-time and 12 per cent worked part-time, while the comparable figures for female employees were 58 per cent and 42 per cent respectively. This highlights the fact that women work part-time more than men and consequently are more likely to receive lower hourly rates of pay.

Median hourly earnings, excluding overtime

In 2011 men's full-time hourly earnings were £13.11, compared with £11.74 for women. The full-time gender pay gap is therefore 10.5 per cent. For part-time employees, men's median hourly earnings excluding overtime were £7.66, while the figure for women was £8.03. This gives a negative gender pay difference of -4.8 per cent. The median gender pay comparison for all employees is 20.2 per cent.

Mean hourly earnings, excluding overtime

In 2011 men's full-time hourly earnings were £16.43, compared with £13.82 for women. The full-time mean gender pay gap is therefore 15.9 per cent. For part-time employees, men's mean hourly earnings excluding overtime were £11.94, while the figure for women was £10.69. This gives a gender pay difference of 10.4 per cent. The mean gender pay comparison for all employees is 19.6 per cent.

Distribution of hourly earnings, excluding overtime

In 2011 10 per cent of full-time employees earned less than £7.00 per hour, while 10 per cent earned more than £26.60. The hourly earnings of the top decile of full-time employees were 212 per cent of the median while the hourly earnings of the bottom decile were 56 per cent of the median.

The median gross weekly pay of full-time employees in the public sector was £554 in 2011. For the private sector the figure was £472.

Gender pay differences

For full-time employees the median gender pay difference in the public sector was 10.3 per cent. In the private sector the pay gap was 19.4 per cent.

For part-time employees, the gender pay difference in the public sector was 22.5 per cent. This contrasts with the part-time gender pay gap in the private sector where women's part-time hourly earnings were higher than men's, resulting in a negative gender pay difference of -1.4 per cent.

For all employees the public sector gender pay difference was 19.3 per cent, compared with 27.4 per cent in the private sector.

In April 2011 the distribution of median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees showed that earnings for 40 to 49-year-olds were highest at £560. Earnings increased until employees reached this age band and steadily decreased thereafter.

Gender pay differences

In 2011 the largest gender pay difference for full-time employees was for 50 to 59-year-olds at 17.3 per cent. There was a negative gender pay gap (women's earnings were higher than men's) in the 22 to 29 age group (-2.5 per cent).

For part-time employees, the gender pay difference was largest for 50 to 59-year-olds at 15.2 per cent. There were negative gender pay gaps in the 22 to 29 and 30 to 39 age groups, at -2.4 per cent and -4.8 per cent.

The largest pay gap for all employees was in the 40 to 49 age group, at 28.3 per cent. The smallest pay difference was in the 16 to 17 age group at 0.8 per cent.

In April 2011 median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees were highest in London at £649 (30 per cent higher than the national median) and lowest in Northern Ireland at £446 (10 per cent lower than the national median).

Gender pay differences

For full-time employees the gender pay difference was highest for the South East at 16.6 per cent. In Northern Ireland there was a negative gender pay gap of -1.0 per cent.

In 11 of the 12 regions, women's part-time hourly earnings were higher than men's, resulting in negative gender pay differences. The widest pay gap for part-time workers, minus 10.3 per cent, was in Scotland, while there was a positive pay gap of 1.4 per cent in the North East.

For all employees, the gender pay difference was largest in the South East (25.3 per cent) and smallest in Northern Ireland (8.7 per cent).

In April 2011 median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees were highest for Managers, directors and senior officials at £721 (45 per cent higher than the figure for all employees) and lowest for Sales and customer service occupations at £319 (36 per cent lower than median weekly earnings for all employees).

Gender pay differences

For full-time employees the gender pay difference was highest for the Skilled trades occupations at 25.2 per cent and lowest for Sales and customer service occupations at 5.8 per cent.

The largest gender pay gap for part-time employees was for Managers, directors and senior officials at 15.9 per cent. The widest negative pay gap, -9.6 per cent, was in the Administrative and secretarial occupations.

For all employees, the gender pay comparison was largest for the Skilled trades occupations at 28.8 per cent, and lowest for Caring, leisure & other service occupations at 6.7 per cent.

Additional payments accounted for 5.2 per cent of mean full-time gross weekly earnings in April 2011. For male employees additional earnings accounted for 6.2 per cent of mean total weekly earnings, compared with 3.0 per cent for women.

Mean weekly paid hours of full-time employees were 39.1 hours in April 2011. Mean part-time paid hours were 18.1 hours.

The proportion of full-time employees working paid overtime in 2011 was 18.4 per cent. The mean number of paid overtime hours for full time employees was 1.1. The percentage of men working full-time who were paid overtime was 22.7 per cent, while 11.7 per cent of full-time women worked paid overtime.

There were 297 thousand jobs paid below the National Minimum Wage held by people aged 16 and over, which constitutes 1.2 per cent of all employee jobs in the labour market.

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) is a minimum amount per hour that most workers in the UK are entitled to be paid. There are different levels of NMW depending on a worker's age and whether they are an apprentice. The April 2011 estimates are the first estimates to be released since the age at which employees are entitled to the main NMW was reduced from 22 to 21 in October 2010.

There were 14 thousand jobs held by 16 to 17-year-olds (5.4 per cent of jobs held by those in this age group) with pay less than £3.64 per hour. For 18 to 20-year-olds, there were 50 thousand jobs with pay less than £4.92 per hour (4.5 per cent of jobs held by those in this age-group). For employees aged 21 and over, there were 233 thousand jobs with pay less than £5.93 per hour (1.0 per cent of jobs held by those in this age group).

In 2011 the proportion of employees who belonged to a workplace pension scheme was below half (48 per cent) for the first time since the series began in 1997. In all, 83 per cent of public sector employees and 32 per cent of private sector employees were members of a workplace pension scheme. The most common types of employee pension schemes were defined benefit schemes (30 per cent of all employees). This is despite a consistent decline in membership since 1997, when 46 per cent of employees were in defined benefit schemes.

ASHE 2011 results were first published on a SOC 2000 basis on 23 November 2011. The move to SOC 2010 has an impact on all ASHE estimates because the occupational classification is used as part of the methodology by which individual jobs are allocated calibration weights. These weights determine the extent to which each job in the ASHE dataset influences overall estimates. The higher the weight for any job, the greater its influence will be on an overall estimate. SOC 2010 results are the first in a new time-series and should not be used in comparisons with earlier years. SOC 2000 results for 2011 provide time-series continuity with earlier years, and should not be used in comparisons with 2012.

Overall, earnings estimates produced under SOC 2010 are lower than those produced under SOC 2000. Primarily, this is because many of the highly paid jobs have a smaller influence on domain estimates due to having lower weights than they did under SOC 2000. For example, many of the jobs that were classified to major group 1, which has high calibration weights, under SOC 2000 are classified to other groups under SOC 2010. This is consistent with the employee population totals given by the Labour Force Survey. The new classification has greater specificity in group 1 (managers, directors and senior officials), than the old SOC. Under SOC 2000, group 1 included many managerial jobs from the retail and service sectors, which are classified to other groups under SOC 2010. There is also a substantial increase of jobs in group 2 (professional occupations) under SOC 2010, which is driven largely by migration from groups 1 and 3.

The impact of the new classification is greater for women than for men. This is because, on the whole, the migration of well-paid jobs into groups with lower weights and the migration of low and average paid jobs into groups with higher weights is more pronounced for women than for men. This impact can be seen in the gender pay gaps for full-time employees and all employees, which are wider under SOC 2010 than under SOC 2000, and also for part-time employees where the negative pay gap is narrower.

Comparisons of SOC 2000 and SOC 2010 results for various domains

The private sector full-time gross weekly earnings are 0.9 per cent lower under the new SOC, while the public sector estimate is 0.4 per cent lower. For the age-groups, the largest change is seen in the 18 to 21 group, where the new SOC brings a decrease of 1.5 per cent. The 16 to 17 and the 60 and over age-groups each see small increases under SOC 2010. Among the regions only the South East sees an increase in median full-time gross weekly earnings under SOC 2010. The largest change is in the West Midlands where the SOC 2010 figure is 1.3 per cent lower than the SOC 2000 figure.

The impact of the SOC change among the major occupational groups is somewhat diverse. Estimates are lower under SOC 2010 than under SOC 2000 for groups 1 and 2, 1.2 per cent lower and 3.7 per cent lower respectively. For group 1, this is largely due to some relatively well-paid jobs being re-classified to other groups. For group 2, the decrease is driven by migration into the group of jobs with lower average earnings than the existing group 2 jobs. For all other major occupational groups, median full-time gross weekly earnings estimates are higher under the new SOC. This is largely due to the movements of relatively well-paid jobs out of groups 1, 2 and 3 into the other groups. The largest difference is in group 7, sales and customer service occupations, where the SOC 2010 estimate is 4.7 per cent higher than the SOC 2000 estimate. The largest contributor to this change is the reclassification of many managerial jobs in the retail sector from group 1 into group 7.

Estimates of the proportion of employees who are members of workplace pension schemes differ very little between SOC 2000 and SOC 2010 for all employees.

However, since many employees are classified to different major occupational groups under the two SOCs, there are some notable differences at this level. The largest increase is in group 7 (Sales and customer service occupations), where the estimate for membership of workplace pensions is 3.2 per cent higher under SOC 2010. The largest decrease is in group 3 (Associate professional and technical occupations), where the estimate for membership of workplace pensions is 5.1 per cent lower under SOC 2010.