The best-paid jobs of 2014

ONS figures reveal best-paid jobs and earnings growth

Brokers, chief executives and pilots enjoyed a fruitful 2014, taking home the largest pay packets according to the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

A tiny payrise for most of us

The survey revealed that gross weekly earnings for full-time employees increased £518 in April 2014. That's up by just £1 on 2013, making it the smallest annual growth since 1997.

In fact, when you take inflation into account, weekly earnings actually fell by 1.6% compared to the previous year. This downward trend has been going on since 2008.

Highs and lows

The survey reveals the highest and lowest earning jobs in the country. In 2014, the bottom 10% of full-time employees were earning less than £288 a week, while the top 10% earned over £1,024.

The 10 highest-earning occupations are set out below. All earnings referred to in the table are the mean, gross figures for full-time workers (so before tax is paid), so they aren't equal to take-home pay.

Occupation	Earnings
Brokers	£151,640
Chief executives and senior officials	£114,137
Aircraft pilots and flight engineers	£94,179
Marketing and sales directors	£89,323
Information technology and telecommunications directors	£86,546
Advertising and public relations directors	£84,496
Financial institution managers and directors	£84,231
Financial managers and directors	£82,769
Legal professionals	£80,025
Medical practitioners	£78,755
Functional managers and directors	£77,147
Air traffic controllers	£76,949

Source: ONS

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Lowest earners

Meanwhile, the jobs that have the lowest average incomes mostly consist of jobs in the hospitality, retail and cleaning industries. Again, all figures in the table below refer to full-time workers’ earnings, before tax.

Occupation	Earnings
Waiters and waitresses	£12,730
Bar staff	£13,160
Kitchen and catering assistants	£13,509
Other elementary service occupations	£13,578
Launderers, dry cleaners and pressers	£14,432
Leisure and theme park attendants	£14,517
Retail cashiers and check-out operators	£14,560
Cleaners and domestics	£14,693
Hairdressers and barbers	£14,783
Playworkers	£14,937

Source: ONS

Changes since last year

While inflation-adjusted earnings have fallen, certain occupational groups have seen huge rises in their salaries. For example, the mean average earnings of advertising and public relations directors has shot up by 29.9% to £84,496, while information technology and telecommunications directors’ pay rose by 24.9% to £86,546.

Rail construction and maintenance operatives, on the other hand, have seen a 12.9% decrease in their pay on average, while pub owners and managers faced a 10.6% drop in their earnings.

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