Labour market earnings of young people
Published:
11 September 2024
see all updates
Data on median hourly pay for 22 to 29 year olds in the UK.
Summary main findings
Real hourly pay fell markedly after the 2008 financial crisis. It recovered slowly to pre-crisis levels in 2021, and has increased slightly again.
After accounting for inflation, median hourly pay fell slightly from its peak of £13.58 in 2021 to £13.32 in 2022. It recovered to £13.46 in 2023.
By year
Visualisation
Median real hourly pay of 22 to 29 year olds, over time (UK, 1997 to 2023)
Data
Year | Median hourly pay (£) |
---|---|
2023 | 13.46 |
2022 | 13.32 |
2021 | 13.58 |
2020 | 13.57 |
2019 | 13.28 |
2018 | 12.87 |
2017 | 12.64 |
2016 | 12.59 |
2015 | 12.16 |
2014 | 11.98 |
2013 | 12.05 |
2012 | 12.05 |
2011 | 12.19 |
2010 | 12.93 |
2009 | 13.39 |
2008 | 13.32 |
2007 | 13.42 |
2006 | 13.32 |
2005 | 13.25 |
2004 | 13.26 |
2003 | 13.15 |
2002 | 13.04 |
2001 | 12.71 |
2000 | 12.25 |
1999 | 11.90 |
1998 | 11.59 |
1997 | 11.33 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
About the data
Data source(s)
Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings
Time period
1997 to 2023
Geographic area
UK
What the data measures
The data shows median real hourly pay for 22 to 29 year olds in the UK.
‘Real’ hourly pay means that earnings are adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, with a base year of 2022.
The median is the middle point of a range of numbers which are arranged in order. Using the median prevents very high and very low values from distorting the figures.
Things you need to know
The data does not include self-employed people or employees who were not paid during the survey period.
The data is not comparable to the data in last year’s report. This is due to an update in the inflation adjustment methodology.
Type of data
Survey data
Full report
Read more in State of the Nation 2024 on GOV.UK.
Download the data
Download full dataset (CSV, 5KB)
This file contains the following variables:
- Indicator code
- Indicator name
- Area type
- Area code
- Area name
- Time period
- Socio-economic background
- Sex
- Category type
- Value
- Unit
Page history
Publication release date:
11 September 2024