FOI Ref: FOI/2021/2763
You asked
Please can I request the following information-
the average unskilled male wage (weekly or monthly or annual format). Ideally covering individual points of reference -
for the following years, e.g 1955; 1965; 1975; 1985; 1995 2005; 2015.
Should you only have an average for each decade then that will suffice.
We said
Thank you for your 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.
We do not hold data specifically for unskilled workers, however, the 'elementary occupations' category in the Standard Occupational Classification 2000 (SOC00) and 2010 (SOC10) are equivalent to Skill Level 1. More information on the Skill levels can be found here, in Section 4
Data for average earnings by SOC00 and SOC10 occupations, for years 2002 to 2020 (the latest period for which data are available), are available in the ASHE Table 2, on our website. Earnings data are provided for both mean and median averages, on hourly, weekly, and annual bases. Data for men specifically can be found in the 'Male' worksheet.
ASHE occupation data are also available for years 1997 to 2001, however these are produced using the Standard Occupational Classification 1990 (SOC90), which does not include the 'elementary occupations' category. Similarly, the New Earnings Survey (NES) also holds SOC90 occupation data, for years 1970 to 1996, however these data are more limited, and cover full-time employees in GB only:
NES median average gross weekly earnings.
NES mean average gross weekly and hourly earnings.
If you require any further information on this data please contact earnings@ons.gov.uk.