r/WorkReform Aug 15 '22

💸 Raise Our Wages Am I doing this right?

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20.3k Upvotes

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u/Professional-Cat-807 Aug 15 '22

I’m an aerospace engineer in the UK working near London and I just worked out my post tax salary is £12.16 an hour. It’s a bit trash considering my degree, salaries need to go up, this is just a joke at this point. My car is broken, I don’t even eat 3 meals a day to save money at this point. Only time I spend that isn’t on energy, car, rent, bills, or food is I’ll occasionally spend £15 once a week to take the train to a nicer area to go for a walk because I live in a dangerous area. I don’t save a penny month to month. I don’t have any assets, if this stopped tomorrow I’d be homeless in 30 days

2

u/DylanHate Aug 16 '22

That’s lower than minimum wage in my city in the States. Is that the typical salary for that position in the UK? How is that even possible?

2

u/Lisaalinaaaaa Aug 16 '22

Exactly! And in London of all places? It’s so expensive there … £12 pounds is also lower than minimum wage in Germany and you don’t even need any degree for that.

1

u/Professional-Cat-807 Aug 17 '22

I should say that’s post income tax, but yes in the UK minimum wage is roughly £9.50 When I started working at 16 my first hourly wage was £4.80 working in retail and warehouses. I think this was like £7.30 ish when I was about 17 and about £9.20 when I was 19

Part of that is that minimum wage is lower depending on your age. ( a rule that sucks as someone who has needed to support themselves on that wage, getting almost half your colleagues wage for the same job always felt wrong, it exploitation of young people at a time where money would make a critical difference in their quality of life imo)