Wages and perceptions.
Discussion
A colleague at work was telling me how his OH, who is a hairdresser with Toni & Guy, earns approx 25K pa. Now I realise there is skill involved in hairstyling but is is it really worth that much? Especially considering when there are many highly qualified graduates out there on a good bit less.
To give you an example my OH graduated with first class honours as a vet and was earning less than 25K in her first two years.
To give you an example my OH graduated with first class honours as a vet and was earning less than 25K in her first two years.
I'm suprised it's that little, Hairdressers (as opposed to a bloke's Barber) charge extortionate rates.
It'd be about 6 quid to get my head sanded down and repolished, but the same effort on a woman would cost over 50 quid.
Plus, with a proper barbers, you just pop in and grab a seat, no need for appointments, and you get a free mystery tissue after too.
It'd be about 6 quid to get my head sanded down and repolished, but the same effort on a woman would cost over 50 quid.
Plus, with a proper barbers, you just pop in and grab a seat, no need for appointments, and you get a free mystery tissue after too.
raf_gti said:
A colleague at work was telling me how his OH, who is a hairdresser with Toni & Guy, earns approx 25K pa. Now I realise there is skill involved in hairstyling but is is it really worth that much? Especially considering when there are many highly qualified graduates out there on a good bit less.
To give you an example my OH graduated with first class honours as a vet and was earning less than 25K in her first two years.
She is being under paid then ,senior stylist should be able to clear 40k a year with them with out to much of a problem.I went How much ! when the better half told me. To give you an example my OH graduated with first class honours as a vet and was earning less than 25K in her first two years.
bomb said:
I'm gonna pack in my regular job and become an MP. The pay is crap, but you can soon make it up on expenses........
My I recommend Local Authority.The pay is much better, and so are the expenses. Also you can keep under the radar by being ONLY a local authority boss.
I would aim for Humberside. I believe he is on £250k, approx.
Another key one is NHS, you can be laughing all the way to the bank.
Coco H said:
I work for a big accountancy firm at a good level but I don't earn a huge amount - it 's nowhere as lucrative as law!
Hmmn. Whilst there may be a few mega salaries in Law, I think more people earn a 'decent wage +' in accountancy than law. There are some amazingly lousy paid people in the legal profession.elster said:
bomb said:
I'm gonna pack in my regular job and become an MP. The pay is crap, but you can soon make it up on expenses........
My I recommend Local Authority.The pay is much better, and so are the expenses. Also you can keep under the radar by being ONLY a local authority boss.
I would aim for Humberside. I believe he is on £250k, approx.
Another key one is NHS, you can be laughing all the way to the bank.
benefits. His main home is in Northern Ireland and is also reimbursed for 2 return flights per month to visit his wife. I have many friends who graduated with "hard" degrees, chemical, electrical, mechanical engineering, Medicine (human and Veterinarian), Law, Accounting & finance, laser physics and opto electronics etc.
Some are still working at their part time "uni" job at B n Q or bar manager 5 years after graduating with honours or in most cases Masters (some with distinction). Laser boy couldn't get a post grad position, tried for substitute teaching and now drives a taxi to scrape a living.
Our medical friends are now working 80 -100 hr weeks in junior positions and internships to make as little as 22k upto 47k GBP. The Vets are earning anything from a pitiful $13,000 to $200,000 USD a year, most of the UK vets we know are on around 23-26k GBP with accomodation provided or discounted and a company car.
On the flip side I've met plenty of tradesmen whilst working in the UK on my own projects as well as sub contracting. Tales of plumbers on 100,000+ GBP are quite simply fantasy, most I worked with were on 30,000-60,000 a year if self employed and had several "underlings". Comically sparkies and spreads would expect 300-400 a day before getting out of bed. The ones I often used would be pulling in 350 quid a day and do the odd cash job at night to rake in a few thousand a week. Not particularly bright or talented either... Having recently spoken to several of my friends and former work mates back in the UK, seems the recession is biting the most greedy tradesman and the more modestly paid are still plodding away. As for the graduates most are still employed but have reduced hours or zero hour contracts as part time staff.
So in my experience going on to higher education is not a guarantee of a great wage even with a solid academic background. Similarly a trade or craft will serve you well as long as you have realistic expectations of what you're time and skill are worth.
Some are still working at their part time "uni" job at B n Q or bar manager 5 years after graduating with honours or in most cases Masters (some with distinction). Laser boy couldn't get a post grad position, tried for substitute teaching and now drives a taxi to scrape a living.
Our medical friends are now working 80 -100 hr weeks in junior positions and internships to make as little as 22k upto 47k GBP. The Vets are earning anything from a pitiful $13,000 to $200,000 USD a year, most of the UK vets we know are on around 23-26k GBP with accomodation provided or discounted and a company car.
On the flip side I've met plenty of tradesmen whilst working in the UK on my own projects as well as sub contracting. Tales of plumbers on 100,000+ GBP are quite simply fantasy, most I worked with were on 30,000-60,000 a year if self employed and had several "underlings". Comically sparkies and spreads would expect 300-400 a day before getting out of bed. The ones I often used would be pulling in 350 quid a day and do the odd cash job at night to rake in a few thousand a week. Not particularly bright or talented either... Having recently spoken to several of my friends and former work mates back in the UK, seems the recession is biting the most greedy tradesman and the more modestly paid are still plodding away. As for the graduates most are still employed but have reduced hours or zero hour contracts as part time staff.
So in my experience going on to higher education is not a guarantee of a great wage even with a solid academic background. Similarly a trade or craft will serve you well as long as you have realistic expectations of what you're time and skill are worth.
therealpigdog said:
but two years on the vet is earning far more, whilst the hairdresser is still on £25k.
you can't expect to suddenly earn mega-wages straight away just because you've been to university, nor can you expect the so called blue collar workers not to earn a decent wage.
Exactly so.you can't expect to suddenly earn mega-wages straight away just because you've been to university, nor can you expect the so called blue collar workers not to earn a decent wage.
Graduates I employed started on £17k a year. Probably £21/23k in the second and, after about 5/6 (subject to performance) north of £50k.
The annoying thing for hairdressers is that (unless it's changed) they work Tuesday to Saturday....so can't enjoy a decent piss up on a Friday night. Ok, they can trollied on Saturday but I know girls that really had a problem missing out on going out on Fridays. Mind you, they weren't on £25k.
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