is 13.5k a good salary?

bristol_pilot

£13.5k is what I got as a new graduate, in the north of england, 25 years ago !

£13.5k is a pants wage and for a single person (over 25) you would be better off on benefits

coffee_prince

I was on JSA and that was £50 a week

13.5k is very good 25 years ago!

But most graduates won't get a graduate job. Average grad jobs are 21-25k, and this statistic really fooled me. So many other grads today expecting to get this kind of salary out of uni but its not likely.

Currently I''m on minimum wage for 18 (give or take) hours a week

LeeSouthEast

They call the effect "Lifestyle Inflation". However much you earn, it's never enough. There are ways to combat it though. I spend less now than I did when I was earning less than a third of my current take-home, but it takes time and effort.

coffee_prince

^ Thats so true actually... before uni I worked in a takeaway two night and was raking it in. Somehow I saved up £1000 and then in uni I lost my way and though I was earning more I became skint and in debt.

I realise all that crap I bought from asda wasn't needed. I don't spend anything there now, only 5-10 a week

Right now I am survivng but only because I am borrowing form the bank of Mum and Dad.

bristol_pilot

That 'plus housing benefit' is worth a lot if you are over 25 - you get the rent on your own place plus council tax paid which could easily be £700 pcm depending on where you live. On £13.5k you pay tax, NI, pension, subs....then you have to pay for travel to work, work lunches, work clothes....all those things that cost you more 'cos you don't have time to seek out the cheapest of everything.

£13.5k 25 years ago was 2nd quartile, good but not outstanding.

coffee_prince

edited as anonymous

maninthestreet

24 years ago I started my first job following University graduation, on a salary of £8500. This equates to £20145 in today's money.

janninew

bristol_pilot wrote: »

That 'plus housing benefit' is worth a lot if you are over 25 - you get the rent on your own place plus council tax paid which could easily be £700 pcm depending on where you live. On £13.5k you pay tax, NI, pension, subs....then you have to pay for travel to work, work lunches, work clothes....all those things that cost you more 'cos you don't have time to seek out the cheapest of everything.

£13.5k 25 years ago was 2nd quartile, good but not outstanding.

Gosh your points are depressing me bristol, cos there so true! I'm on a similar wage as mentioned by the OP and it is so depressing to see people on benefits with a better lifestyle than me (i work 40 hours a week and get no benefits) Sometimes you have to wonder what the point is?

Humphrey10

I'm paid £15k (pro rata) for my work placement in the second year of a foundation degree, so I wouldn't say £13.5k was that great.
I'd think you could live on it though, if you weren't supporting anyone.
I'm finding it amazing what I can afford with my salary at the moment, considering my work placment only lasted 5 months and I've had to pay for university accomodation for 40 weeks, and rent to my mother for 5 months (so I was paying rent in 2 places for a bit!).
Makes me a lot less sympathetic when people say they are poor, but earn £20k or so.

Magnolia

Its more than I earn for a full time job in Yorkshire *sigh*