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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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