Leading UK industries seeing the biggest increase in wages

By Dr. Tim Sandle
Published May 31, 2023

Businesses in London. Image: Tim Sandle

Mining and quarrying is the sector that has seen the biggest increase in wages between January 2022 and January 2023, within the U.K. This is followed by those employed in administrative services.

In third place comes employees placed in the amalgam of professional, scientific and technical services, according to an assessment by Trading platform CMC Markets. The company analysed data from the UK government’s Office for National Statistics, and have provide this output to Digital Journal.

Across all sectors the average regular pay growth for the private sector was 6.9 percent in December 2022 to February 2023, and 5.3 percent for the public sector. For the most part, wage increases have been at a level below the rate of inflation. This is a situation that has fuelled industrial unrest in the U.K.

In January 2022, average weekly earnings sat at £1,203 for the mining sector. This increased to £1,382 in January 2023, an increase of 12.95 percent. The industry also saw an increase in weekly earnings of 13.82 percent over the past five years.

The administrators saw their earnings increase from £490 to £561 between January 2022 and January 2023, which is a percentage increase of 12.66 percent. The industry also saw a rise of 26.56 percent in five years.

Coming in third place is the professional, scientific and technical services sector. Between January 2022 and January 2023, the average weekly earnings in the industry increased from £854 to £940, a percentage change of 9.15 percent. The study also found the five-year increase to be 27.87 percent, the highest in the top ten.

Taking fourth place on the list is the manufacturing industry for chemicals. Average weekly earnings increased from £817 in January 2022 to £888 in January 2023, a percentage increase of 8 percent. The five-year increase in wages in the industry was also 16.67 percent. Rounding out the top five is the education industry, which has seen weekly earnings rise from £488 in January 2022 to £527 in January 2023, an increase of 7.4 percent. Over the past five years, average weekly earnings have also risen 17.27 percent.

Data for the top ten industrial sectors shows:

#	Industry	Jan 2023 Average Weekly Earnings	Jan 2022 Average Weekly Earnings	Jan 2018 Average Weekly Earnings	1 Year Change	5 Year Change
1	Mining and Quarrying	£1,382	£1,203	£1,191	12.95%	13.82%
2	Administrative and Support Service Activities	£561	£490	£412	12.66%	26.56%
3	Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities	£940	£854	£678	9.15%	27.87%
4	Manufacturing – Chemicals and Man-made Fibres	£888	£817	£740	8.00%	16.67%
5	Education	£527	£488	£436	7.40%	17.27%
6	Manufacturing – Basic Metals and Metal Products	£663	£619	£563	6.64%	15.08%
7	Manufacturing – Engineering and Allied Industries	£770	£720	£697	6.49%	9.48%
8	Electricity, Gas and Water Supply	£805	£756	£671	6.09%	16.65%
9	Other Manufacturing	£619	£584	£516	5.65%	16.64%
10	Information and Communication	£1,075	£1,016	£845	5.49%	21.40%