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Employment: Pay

Answer

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Letter from Glen Watson, Director General for ONS, to Baroness Lister, dated August 2013.

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 22 July (WA 165), what proportion of jobs in (1) the lowest pay decile, and (2) the highest pay quintile. are paid (a) weekly, (b) fortnightly, (c) four weekly, and (d) monthly. (HL2052)

The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), carried out in April each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. Weekly levels of earnings are estimated from ASHE, and are provided for employees on adult rates of pay, whose earnings for the survey pay period were not affected by absence ASHE also collects information about employees' pay periods.

I attach a table showing the proportion of jobs with weekly, fortnightly, four weekly and monthly pay periods for jobs in the lowest pay decile and the highest pay quintile in April 2012, the latest period for which results are available.

Figures for all employees include full-time jobs and part-time jobs. The bottom decile contains a much higher proportion of part-time jobs than the highest quintile, meaning that comparisons between these sectors of the earnings distribution need careful interpretation. For this reason, figures have also been provided separately for full-time jobs.

Proportion of jobsa in the lowest pay decileb and highest pay quintileb with weekly, fortnightly, four weekly and monthly pay periods in April 2012.
All Employees	Full-time employees
Pay period	Per cent of bottom decilec	Per cent of top quintiled	Per cent of bottom decilee	Per cent of top quintilef
Weekly	22.7	4.3	30.6	3.4
Two weeks	6.8	0.3	4.3	0.3
Four weeks	17.2	4.3	14.3	4.2
Month	53.4	91.1	50.8	92.1

Notes:

a. Employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected by absence.

b. Earnings deciles are defined on the basis of gross weekly earnings. ASHE data for jobs that do not have weekly pay periods are converted into weekly figures.

c. Employees in the bottom decile have gross weekly earnings of less than £120.30.

d. Employees in the top quintile have gross weekly earnings of at least £692.10.

e. Employees in the bottom decile have gross weekly earnings of less than £281.90.

f. Employees in the top quintile have gross weekly earnings of at least £778.0.

Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), Office for National Statistics

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

HL2052; 747 cc416-7WA

Session

2013-14

Related items

Employment: Pay
Monday, 22 July 2013
Written questions
House of Lords

Employment: Pay
Tuesday, 8 October 2013
Written questions
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Subjects

Pay

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk