The
average UK household income before tax is theoretically £24,250
a year (£467 a week). You would be forgiven for thinking that
a skilled worker would be on at least £30,000 a year.
The
reality is that 23% of all full time wage earners get less than
£13,000 a year (£250 a week), 50% less than £18,200
(£350 a week), 87% less than £30,000 (£575 a week).
If you include part-timers and young people, then 93% get less than
£30,000 a year.
Over
one third of UK wage earners fall below the European Decency Threshold
of £288 for a 39-hour week (£15,000 a year).
In
primary education average earnings are £20,651 (£397
a week), in social work £17,497 (£337).
Income
statistics are totally distorted in the UK. The fattest cats earn
more in one year than most people would earn in 1,000 years. You
would have to scroll up over 30 more screens to reach the real top
of the right-hand bar in the diagram. And that doesn't include the
monetary value of the land, shares and inheritance owned by the
richest 500 in the UK.
Biggest
fat cat incomes in 2000 were for: Bernie Ecclestone (New Labour
donor) on £617 million, John Duffield (financial fund manager)
on £175 million, Peter Harrison (computer boss) on £177
million, Viscount Rothermere (Daily Mail boss) on £71
million.
To
start getting rid of such blatant inequality, vote Socialist
Alliance or for the Scottish
Socialist Party.
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