Islanders' earnings remain "essentially flat" over 20 years

Friday 27 August 2021

New figures have shown that islanders' earnings have remained "essentially flat" over the past 20 years.

A new report released by Statistics Jersey this morning also showed that mean average weekly earnings for full-time employees in Jersey in June 2021 was £820 per week, with average wages at a sectoral level ranging from £500 per week in hotels to £1,120 per week in financial services.

The mean average pushed up by what was described as a "long tail of high earners". Two thirds of workers earn less than the mean.

The median monthly earning, meanwhile, was £630 per week, with half of workers in Jersey earning less than this. 

Pictured: Average weekly salaries.

While there was a 3.3% increase in average weekly earnings between June 2020 and June 2021, in real terms earnings actually fell by 0.2% when rises in the cost of living were taken into consideration.

Earnings in the public sector were 3.2% lower, while earnings in the private sector were 0.4% higher.

Pictured: Whilst in nominal terms earnings have increased across the past 20 years, taking into account inflation, they have remained "essentially flat."

According to the new report, this marks the third time in four years that earnings have decreased in real terms.

Over the past 10 years, all-sector average earnings have increased in real terms by 0.9%.

Pictured: Hospitality saw an over-15% increase< on 2020, partially due to covid restrictions preventing overtime.

Looking at individual business sectors in nominal terms, employees in hotels, restaurants and bars saw by far the most dramatic increase in weekly earnings from last year, going up by 15.7%.

This was something the report partially attributed "to a return to more regular hours worked, in June 2020 substantially fewer hours and less overtime were worked as a result of the covid-19 restrictions which drove a 10.2% decrease from June 2019 to June 2020.

"The other driving factor was some companies reported awarding substantial pay increases in order to retain staff."

In contrast, the one sector which saw a decrease was agriculture, falling by 1% from June 2020 - something the report linked to the fact that hours worked in the sector were slightly lower in June 2021 compared to June 2020.

Pictured: Prior to the decade ending 2010, the average 10-year real-term increase in average earnings was around 13%, but since 2011, there has been essentially no improvement in real-term earnings in each of the subsequent 10-year periods.

Looking at the bigger picture, the report observes that, although "in nominal terms, since 1990 average earnings in Jersey have more than tripled, increasing by almost 237%", after adjusting for inflation "average earnings have increased by 19% over this 31-year period."

Looking even closer at the past 20 years, it observes how the period from 2001 to 2021 "saw earnings remain essentially flat in real terms, increasing by 0.5% over the 20-year period."

It added: "Although all-sector earnings have been essentially flat in real terms since 2001, private sector earnings have marginally increased in real terms (up 1.5%) whereas public sector earnings have fallen (down 3.8%) over the 20-year period."

Following the figures' release, Senator Sam Mezec slammed the flatlining as an "abject failure" from Government.

"Your average Jersey person is worse off than they were last year, and wages have flatlined for two decades now," he remarked.

"All whilst the very richest have continued to get much richer with the help of tax exemptions which don't apply to ordinary earners, and poverty has continued to rise.

"Another abject failure from a government lied to the public when they pledged to 'reduce income inequality and raise the standard of living'."