North workers happy with lower-than-average wages: survey
Workers in the North are the most satisfied with their salaries in the UK, despite having the lowest average earnings, a report today claimed.
The average wage in Northern Ireland is £17,366 (€25,000) a year, which is 77.5% of the UK national average of £22,411 (€32,400), according to PayFinder.com, which compares salaries and jobs. Yet a survey of 2,700 people by the website found that 40% of Northern Irish respondents were satisfied with their earnings.
While a majority of 60% were dissatisfied with their wages in the North, this compared to 91% of workers being dissatisfied in Wales – the highest rate in the UK – where the average wage is £20,391 (€29,400).
It may not come as a surprise to learn that 81% of UK employees, a proportion equivalent to 23 million people, are unhappy with their current salary, but nearly half of those questioned in the survey, 46%, said they hadn’t taken part in a salary review in the last 12 months.
Workers were found to be reluctant to ask for a raise, even though they were unhappy with their pay.
The survey found that 92% of all respondents thought they are worth more money, but only 52% would consider asking for it.
CJ Brough, a spokeswoman for PayFinder.com, said: “It says rather a lot about the Northern Irish way of life that despite earning the lowest salaries, their workers are the most content.
“People in different regions have different attitudes to work, and there’s a difference between those who treat it just as a nine-to-five job that provides them with enough money to live on, and those whose jobs are social symbols or who have a greater desire to earn more and more. Maybe the Northern Irish just do not complain much about their jobs.”
Liz Thornelow, a spokeswoman for the GMB general trade union, said: “As a trade union representing thousands of workers in Northern Ireland, these results are not what we would expect and do not fit in with feedback we have received from our members.
“These figures are based on an online survey so we would query how representative they are of the country as a whole. But salaries in both public and private sectors are usually unnecessarily low. We are only too aware of this and are always trying to negotiate higher wages on behalf of our members.
“Parts of Northern Ireland continue to suffer badly from the decline in the manufacturing industry. With hundreds of jobs in the clothing and textile industries, for instance, disappearing in the last few months, it may be in areas where unemployment is hard and workers are concerned their jobs are under threat that they are less likely to express disappointment with wages.”
