Categories: BusinessNews

One in Eight British Jobs Pay Over £50k, but Only One in Twenty Candidates want them

By Nathan Lee, TLE Correspondent 

Ahead of the ONS latest report on the highest paid jobs in Britain new research has found 12.5 per cent of jobs in the UK pay over £50,000, but just 5 per cent of candidates are seeking premium salaries.

Job site CV-Library looked at roles advertised between 1st November 2014 to 31st October 2015 and discovered that over 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 per cent paying over £50,000).

Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, explains: “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 Nov 14-Oct 15, just five per cent of them were hoping to achieve a salary of over £50,000.

Commenting on the lack of candidates seeking higher paid roles, Biggins concludes:  “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.”

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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