One in eight British jobs pay over £50,000

Nick Elvin

One in eight (12.5%) jobs in the UK pay over £50,000, yet only 5% of candidates are seeking a premium salary, according to a survey by CV-Library.

The job site looked at roles advertised between November 1, 2014 and October 31, 2015 and discovered that more than 189,000 of the 1.5 million jobs offered a salary of over £50,000. Furthermore, data from the same period the previous year revealed similar proportions (12% paying over £50,000), suggesting minimal growth in the number of high-paid roles in Britain over the last two years.

Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, said: “Whilst many roles are experiencing slight declines in salary, we are seeing small increases for management level jobs. Difficulties finding the right talent have attributed to this.”

Comparable candidate data revealed that of the millions of professionals looking for new roles between November 2014 and October 2015, just 5% of them were hoping to achieve a salary of over £50,000.

Commenting on the lack of candidates seeking higher paid roles, Biggins said: “The fact that only one in 20 job hunters are seeking a salary over £50,000 prompts concerns over potential skills shortages in the future.

“However, given that there are high-paying jobs available and few candidates applying to these vacancies, there’s a more immediate concern over the lack of self-belief among UK workers. With the right qualifications and a drive to succeed, more candidates should be keeping their eyes peeled for these high-paying opportunities and striving to exceed their career ambitions.”