1980's wages

[diggerjones]

Just found my p60 for year ending april 1990. I earned £8051. Befor tax.
I was 20 years old

 

[dogandstick]

Just found my p60 for year ending april 1990. I earned £8051. Befor tax.
I was 20 years old

Which was equivalent to £18,347 in 2019 according to the BoE inflation calculator.

 

[Mur Huwcun]

That was a reasonable wage at the time although you don’t say doing what or how many hours!! Roughly £4 an hour at a 40 hrs week.

I started an apprenticeship in 2002 at £45 a week for first 6 months .

A lot of posts advertised around here now with a salary of £16-18k and IIRC the average for area is only 24k

 

[simmy_bull]

What hourly rate would that be then?

my first proper weekend job when I was 14 was £20/day for 8 - 6.Probably not full on useful mans work but as much use as I could be at that age.

 

[nick...]

Still got my first pay ticket in 1979,£33.95 a week at 17 years old.
nick...

 

[spanners and hammers]

got me thinking when i started i went from a garage to the construction industry and started on £ 30 a day in 1985 at 19 yrs old

 

[Extreme Optimist]

First pay packet here was £23.50 on a YTS scheme in 1981

 

[Courier]

Remember earning £40 per week for six weeks moving bales at Ulting Manor in 1971 (CASH in hand) after completing at Writtle.

 

[nick...]

First pay packet here was £23.50 on a YTS scheme in 1981

I thought my wage was not good but a lot better than yours but I was not on yts scheme.i just got lots of shite from a bellend of a farm manager Who was immensely jealous of me coming from a family farm and consequently I got all the crap jobs.did get a bit of pay back a few years later though.all good times
Nick...

 

[Little squeak]

I have unsuccessfully searched for the back issues of the AWB rates from the 1970s in the past if anyone could point me in the right direction I would be really grateful

 

[Extreme Optimist]

I thought my wage was not good but a lot better than yours but I was not on yts scheme.i just got lots of shite from a bellend of a farm manager Who was immensely jealous of me coming from a family farm and consequently I got all the crap jobs.did get a bit of pay back a few years later though.all good times
Nick...

It got me involved in farming and I thought all my christmas's had come at once. To be honest, I pay myself less than minimum wage now, but it's all I need.

 

[Hilly]

First pay packet here was £23.50 on a YTS scheme in 1981

I think mine was £26.50 in 1990 , I think I had more disposable then than now

 

[diggerjones]

That was a reasonable wage at the time although you don’t say doing what or how many hours!! Roughly £4 an hour at a 40 hrs week.

I started an apprenticeship in 2002 at £45 a week for first 6 months .

A lot of posts advertised around here now with a salary of £16-18k and IIRC the average for area is only 24k

Farm labourer. I had been on day release to agricultural collage by then, craftsman wages!?
Think my hrs were 8am -- 5.30pm. And 2 milkings every weekend about 6hrs.

 

[Extreme Optimist]

I think mine was £26.50 in 1990 , I think I had more disposable then than now

That is just so true!!! Think a pint was under 50p!! Mind, Nitram was £44/tonne and I think Malting Barley was making £120/tonne!

 

[nick...]

Allways managed on my little amount.couldhave a night out in Norwich,usually at yfc event.drink loads and Kentucky before coming home,or a king beefy if getting short and coming home with change too.smoked in those days too
nick...

 

[BELOWAVERAGE]

Got a weekend job when I was 13 (Aug 74) feeding calves, scrapping up etc, 25pence an hour had that until Feb 1977, then left school for full time job even though I was only 15, £23.50p a week if I remember right, but could have been less.

 

[Devil's advocate]

Farm labourer. I had been on day release to agricultural collage by then, craftsman wages!?
Think my hrs were 8am -- 5.30pm. And 2 milkings every weekend about 6hrs.

John Smiths 70p a pint 1983
£1.30 a pint 1989
£6 a day potato pickers at 14 1979
I got £10 because I carted the bags & fed animals before & after
Tenner all winter at weekends for swede cutting

 

[borderterribles]

My first paid job was as a Saturday boy in a local butcher's shop for £6/day in 1977, although I'd knocked about on farms before that. Obviously the shop wasn't open on Sundays, so I left that for a farm job, paying £10 for the weekend. One Sunday evening, I was just finishing off for the day, when the full time employee asked me if I'd take his job if he left. I said I probably would. He lived in, as family, at the farmhouse at the time, but that evening he did a moonlight and that was that!.
It was 1978 and I got £39.50 a week , 7 till 7 weekdays and at weekends I had a few hours off in the middle of the days, but still milked both days.
I was allowed to go and pay my cheque into the local bank, on the MF35x, as it was quicker than me walking there! Oh, and I distinctly remember being told never to let the semi-retired farmer find out how much they were paying me!!

 

[icanshootwell]

Reading this brings back sad memories for me, my old man expected a hard days work for very little wage, I did a few jobs on the side to earn some extra, Funny really i still dont pay myself much, even now i can afford it.
Back in the late 80,s you could get pee'd for less than a fiver and buy a packet of fags. Everyone seemed to smoke back then.

 

[thesilentone]

First partime farm job 1972/73 (aged 14/15) £1.00 day - 7.0am to 6.30pm and a little bit extra if after those hours. Working through summer holidays, £10.00/£12.00 week, thought I was loaded.

First full time job, apprentice engineer 1974 - taking home £13.78 for 40 hours, pay rise after one year but started paying ' graduated contribution ' so taking home £12.80 :-(

Things went up fast in the 70's left in 1979, earning £75.00 week for 37.5 hours.