FOI Reference: FOI/2022/4128
You asked
I would like to request access to the oldest available record of wages in GBP up to today.
These wages could be hourly or annually.
Please provide the figures mentioned in nominal terms.
We said
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request.
The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), carried out in April each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. ASHE is based on a 1% sample of employee jobs taken from HM Revenue and Customs' Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records. Consequently, individuals with more than one job may appear in the sample more than once. ASHE does not cover the self-employed or employees not paid during the reference period. ASHE information relates to gross pay before tax, National Insurance, or other deductions, and excludes payments in kind.
Average earnings (including hourly and annual) are available in table 1 of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings:
A timeseries going further back with median weekly earnings has been published, with data from 1968-2021 for Great Britain; this release contains data from both the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings and the New Earnings Survey; the New Earnings Survey is the predecessor to the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. Please note there may be certain methodological differences when measuring the earnings of employees and as such certain points may not be directly comparable.