Pay Gap Widens

NEWS RELEASE

2nd February 2004

Salary Survey - New Salary Research Reveals The Going Rate For Permanent & Temporary Staff Around The UK

Research carried out by Kelly Services, one of the country’s leading recruitment and human resources specialists, has identified that variations in pay grew significantly in 2003. Whilst overall temporary and permanent pay rose across most of the 16 sampled job types, the gap widened significantly between those earning top rates and those at the lower end of the scale. (See figures 1 & 2 for more details).

Using these results Kelly has produced a comprehensive report, which provides employers with an authoritative picture of the going rates in their area and also allows employees to compare and contrast their own pay with that offered in other areas and jobs.

National Results:

• On average, temporary staff on the lower end of the scale (across the 16 job types measured) earned £6.06 per hour in 2003. This was 2.42% up on 2002. However, at the higher end of the scale (across the same basket of 16 jobs) temporaries earned on average £8.75 per hour - an increase of 8.48% from 2002 to 2003. (Figure 3)

• On average, permanent placements at the lower end of the scale earned £12,030 in 2003. This was an increase of just 1.34% over 2002. However, at the top end permanent placements earned an average of £18,097 – an increase of 6.52% over 2002. (Figure 3)

Regional variations:

• As expected, pay varies widely across the country. The East Midlands offer temporaries an average of just £5.09 per hour against a national average of £6.06 per hour at the lower end of the scale. Other areas paying an average below £5.50 per hour are the South West, Carlisle, Bolton/Stockport and Yorkshire.

• At the higher end of the temporary pay scale The City, West End, Greater London and Sussex & Kent and Northampton regions all pay top temporaries an average in excess of £10 per hour and up to £12.48 in The City across the 16 job types.

• In terms of permanent job placements Carlisle, East Anglia and the South West offered average salaries of below £11,000 at the lower end of the scale. The national average was £12,030.

• At the top end of the scale the best averages (across the 16 job types) were held by The City*, Northampton, West End, Greater London and Sussex & Kent who all offer permanent salaries in excess of £20,000 per year. Northampton was the only non South East area in the top five with an average (top end of the scale) salary of £22,000. This was second only to The City. The national average was £18,097.

Job Variations:

• Call Centre Managers were the big winners of 2003 with salaries up significantly across the board. As temporaries, Call Centre Managers across the UK, could expect to earn an average hourly pay packet of between £9.73 and £15.70. Those in permanent placements could obtain salaries of between £20,233 and £32,800. However, in the Greater London area a top manager could aim for up to £25 per hour as a temporary and up to £50,000 per year in a permanent placement.

(Figure 3)

• PA/Secretaries can earn a UK average of between £6.99 and £9.80 per hour as temporaries or between £14,083 and £22,767 when in permanent work. This of course depends on location, with PA/Secretaries in The City having the opportunity to earn between £9.50 and £14.50 per hour as temporaries and £18,000 to £30,000 per year on permanent placements. However, pay can drop as low as £6 per hour or £10,000 per year in East Anglia. (Figure 3)

• Industrial Jobs (Production Assistant, Warehouse Operative, Stores Worker & Forklift Operators) seem to have gained better than average pay rises in 2003. In particular both temporary and permanent forklift drivers enjoyed double-digit percentage increases at the top of the pay scale. Sussex & Kent, Northampton and the East Midlands all offer permanent top scale Forklift Driver salaries in excess of £20,000. The national average was £16,483. (Figure 3)

• Office Juniors have the lowest permanent pay of the 16 job types for which information was gathered. Their average national permanent pay ranges from £8,567 to £11,483 but in Glasgow it can go as low as £7,500. (Figure 3)

Chris Kelly, Managing Director of Kelly Services, said, "This is the second annual salary survey which we have conducted using the information collected through the huge number of positions we fill on an annual basis. We are therefore able to provide UK managers and recruiters with accurate data on which they can base their recruitment decisions. The results will of course not only be of interest to employers but also to employees who can use the information to get an idea if the grass really is greener elsewhere or whether they are actually doing very well for themselves where they are."

The Kelly Services 2004 Salary Survey gathered data on 16 different job types in over 30 regions of the UK. The data collected measures the lowest and highest pay offered in each region for each job type and includes both temporary and permanent rates. Kelly Services fills around 20,000 temporary vacancies every week and more than 10,000 permanent placements per year through its network of 120 branches. The information is sourced from this reliable and substantial sample.

-Ends-

* The City’s figures do not include the five industrial job types.

Notes to editors

Figure 1 - Widening Salary Gap (Permanent Jobs)

This table highlights that pay differentials within job types have widened significantly in 2003. While salaries at the lower end of the scale have either reduced or grown slowly those at the top end of the scale have grown at a much faster rate. This may partly reflect employers willingness to pay more to retain good staff at the top end.

National Averages - Permanent Jobs
	2002	2002	2002	2003	2003	2003
Category	Perm Salary - Lower	Perm Salary - Higher	Salary Gap	Perm Salary - Lower	Perm Salary - Higher	Salary Gap	Change
Office Manager	£16,000	£24,350	£8,350	£15,650	£25,783	£10,133	21.36%
PA/Secretary	£14,600	£21,933	£7,333	£14,083	£22,767	£8,683	18.41%
Data Entry Clerk	£10,002	£12,950	£2,948	£9,767	£13,250	£3,483	18.15%
Call Centre Manager	£19,967	£32,800	£12,833	£20,233	£37,367	£17,133	33.51%
Word Processing Operator	£10,683	£14,183	£3,500	£10,833	£15,183	£4,350	24.29%
Administrator	£10,600	£15,267	£4,667	£10,967	£16,400	£5,433	16.43%
Supervisor	£13,086	£18,172	£5,086	£13,183	£18,967	£5,783	13.71%
Production Assistant	£9,928	£12,926	£2,998	£9,862	£13,857	£3,995	33.25%
Warehouse Operative	£9,285	£12,500	£3,215	£9,586	£14,121	£4,534	41.05%
Stores Worker	£9,607	£13,204	£3,596	£9,948	£14,293	£4,345	20.81%
Forklift Driver	£11,004	£14,796	£3,793	£11,345	£16,483	£5,138	35.47%

Figure 2 - Widening Salary Gap (Temporary Pay)

This table highlights that pay differentials within job types have widened significantly in 2003 even for temporary workers. For example a Production Assistant’s average hourly rates could vary by as much as £1.36 an hour in 2002. Now the gap between the lowest and highest rates has risen to £1.91 per hour – an increase of 41%.

National Averages – Temporary Jobs
	2002	2002	2002	2003	2003	2003
Category	Temp Hourly Rate - Lower	Temp Hourly Rate - Higher	Hourly Pay Gap	Temp Hourly Rate - Lower	Temp Hourly Rate - Higher	Hourly Pay Gap	Change
Office Manager	£7.61	£11.41	£3.80	£8.02	£12.48	£4.47	17.49%
PA/Secretary	£6.96	£9.78	£2.83	£6.99	£10.80	£3.81	34.73%
Receptionist/Telephonist	£5.40	£6.90	£1.50	£5.49	£7.31	£1.82	21.11%
Call Centre Operator	£5.59	£7.20	£1.61	£5.52	£7.71	£2.19	36.41%
Call Centre Manager	£8.73	£13.14	£4.41	£9.53	£15.70	£6.17	39.92%
Word Processing Operator	£5.50	£6.88	£1.37	£5.56	£7.38	£1.83	33.05%
Administrator	£5.35	£7.43	£2.08	£5.49	£7.88	£2.39	15.26%
Supervisor	£6.80	£9.07	£2.27	£6.54	£9.54	£3.00	32.42%
Production Assistant	£4.60	£5.96	£1.36	£4.91	£6.82	£1.91	41.18%
Warehouse Operative	£4.69	£6.16	£1.46	£4.80	£6.85	£2.05	40.24%
Stores Worker	£4.84	£6.34	£1.49	£4.96	£6.95	£1.99	33.25%
Forklift Driver	£5.45	£7.50	£2.06	£5.70	£8.29	£2.59	26.23%

Figure 3 – National Average Temporary & Permanent Salaries

This table collates the 30 individual regional tables and provides the national average pay figures for each job type. It provides pay statistics for each of the 16 job types across four areas – Temporary Hourly Rate (Lower), Temporary Hourly Rate (Higher), Permanent Salary Rate (Lower), Permanent Salary Rate (Higher)

 

National Averages
	2002	2003		2002	2003		2002	2003		2002	2003
Category	Temp Hourly Rate - Lower	Temp Hourly Rate – Lower	Percent Change	Temp Hourly Rate - Higher	Temp Hourly Rate - Higher	Percent Change	Perm Salary - Lower	Perm Salary - Lower	Percent Change	Perm Salary - Higher	Perm Salary - Higher	Percent Change
Office Manager	£7.61	£8.02	5.39%	£11.41	£12.48	9.42%	£16,000	£15,650	-2.19%	£24,350	£25,783	5.89%
PA/Secretary	£6.96	£6.99	0.50%	£9.78	£10.80	10.39%	£14,600	£14,083	-3.54%	£21,933	£22,767	3.80%
Secretary	£6.17	£6.31	2.21%	£8.50	£8.97	5.53%	£12,083	£12,283	1.66%	£17,333	£17,817	2.79%
Receptionist/Telephonist	£5.40	£5.49	1.67%	£6.90	£7.31	5.89%	£10,310	£10,650	3.30%	£14,617	£15,233	4.22%
Data Entry Clerk	£5.08	£5.15	1.31%	£6.65	£6.81	2.43%	£10,002	£9,767	-2.35%	£12,950	£13,250	2.32%
Office Junior	£4.73	£4.81	1.66%	£5.79	£5.92	2.19%	£8,107	£8,567	5.67%	£11,042	£11,483	4.00%
Call Centre Operator	£5.59	£5.52	-1.31%	£7.20	£7.71	7.11%	£10,798	£10,950	1.40%	£15,128	£15,467	2.24%
Call Centre Team Leader		£7.18			£10.62			£14,567			£21,083
Call Centre Manager	£8.73	£9.53	9.22%	£13.14	£15.70	19.52%	£19,967	£20,233	1.34%	£32,800	£37,367	13.92%
Word Process. Operator	£5.50	£5.56	1.00%	£6.88	£7.38	7.39%	£10,683	£10,833	1.40%	£14,183	£15,183	7.05%
Administrator	£5.35	£5.49	2.58%	£7.43	£7.88	6.13%	£10,600	£10,967	3.46%	£15,267	£16,400	7.42%
Supervisor	£6.80	£6.54	-3.80%	£9.07	£9.54	5.25%	£13,086	£13,183	0.74%	£18,172	£18,967	4.37%
Production Assistant	£4.60	£4.91	6.63%	£5.96	£6.82	14.50%	£9,928	£9,862	-0.66%	£12,926	£13,857	7.20%
Warehouse Operative	£4.69	£4.80	2.29%	£6.16	£6.85	11.30%	£9,285	£9,586	3.24%	£12,500	£14,121	12.97%
Stores Worker	£4.84	£4.96	2.40%	£6.34	£6.95	9.68%	£9,607	£9,948	3.55%	£13,204	£14,293	8.25%
Forklift Driver	£5.45	£5.70	4.59%	£7.50	£8.29	10.52%	£11,004	£11,345	3.10%	£14,796	£16,483	11.40%
Averages	£5.83	£6.06	2.42%	£7.91	£8.75	8.48%	£11,737	£12,030	1.34%	£16,747	£18,097	6.52%

 

• About Kelly Services
  Kelly Services is a leading UK recruitment and human resources organisation, placing around 20,000 temporary staff into jobs each week and more than 10,000 people in permanent work annually through a network of 120 offices across the country.  Kelly Services, Inc. is a Fortune 500 company offering human resources solutions that include temporary services, staff leasing, outsourcing, vendor on-site and full-time placement.  With more than 2,400 company owned and operated offices in 24 countries, Kelly provides to its customers nearly 700,000 individuals annually, with skills including office services, accounting, engineering, information technology, law, science, marketing, light industrial, education and health care.