Revealed: How much pay has gone up in York – and the new average wage
The average pay packet in York has gone up sharply – but not enough to match inflation, new figures reveal.
A quarterly economic update by City of York Council says that York’s overall median wage for November 2022 was £2,114, which suggests that pay in York increased 9.7% in the year November 2021 to 2022.
The report says: “While this is still below inflation, it represents significant growth and is higher than elsewhere in the North.”
Inflation currently stands at 10.7%.
That figure is based on real time information (RTI) on wages for local authority areas, which doesn’t differentiate between full-time and part-time pay.
The report says the median full-time weekly wage for York residents was £609.20.
That is higher than the figure for the Yorkshire and Humber region – £594.20 a week. But it’s less than the UK average, at £640 a week.
The report says: “The gap between York’s full-time median wage levels and southern English towns and cities in Southern England has widened.
“The weekly wages in London, Cambridge and Bath are £156, £139 and £90 higher than in York.”
For part-time workers, the median part-time hourly wage in York was £11.08 an hour, slightly lower than the national average (£11.16).
The report says these figures demonstrate “the need to develop more better-paid roles in York’s growth industries while pushing up productivity and pay in high volume sectors such as retail, hospitality and social care”.
Job vacancies in the city are falling. At the beginning of January 2023, there were 3,071 job vacancies within five miles of York city centre, according to the job website Indeed. This is a drop of about 800 vacancies from the beginning of the last quarter of 2022.
The number of people claiming out of work benefits has been within the range of 2,400-2,500 since last June.
Businesses are “in survival mode” due to rising costs. “Staff recruitment is still the most frequent challenge raised during conversations with businesses, along with the concern of retaining experienced trained staff.”
And there is a lack of available commercial space in the city, with just 2.6% of offices vacant.
The report will be considered at the decision session for the executive member for economy and strategic planning next Tuesday (24 January) at 4pm.