The decisions you make now have a massive impact on your future. Of course, for a lot of people it is difficult to know what career you want to have when you are still at school. Nevertheless, this is why it is important to know about the different salaries for different job roles, as well as the demand for jobs at present and the likely demand in the future. This is a key part of ‘Connections between the world of work and future economic well-being’ in the PFEG module ‘Understanding the important role money plays in our lives.’ So, read on to find out more.
What you like or what makes you the most?
Unfortunately, not everyone has an interest in jobs that command the highest amount of money. Your interests and skills may be tailored to a job that earns a modest wage. So, what do you do? Spend your life doing something you hate? Certainly not! It’s all about finding the right balance. Some people would be quite happy doing something boring if it meant money was coming in. But, considering you’re going to be working the vast majority of your life, it’s important to be happy. Look for jobs that have a high salary and are related to what you enjoy and are good at. You’d be surprised by just how many job roles are out there. You may have to do the dirty work in the beginning, not everyone walks into the perfect role.
Skill shortages
A study conducted by the National Careers Service aimed to find out the skills that are hardest to find. 87,000 businesses took place, making it the biggest UK-wide employer skills survey. The survey received that skilled trades occupations were the most difficult to find, for example, chefs, plumbers, and electricians. This has been the case for quite a few years now. There are also skill shortages in business services jobs, namely, those qualified marketing professionals, solicitors, and accountants.
How much can you earn?
Well the answer to this is that the sky is the limit! You can earn as much as you want if you apply yourself. After all, you can always start your own business! But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Below you will find the average salary for some of the most popular sectors. But, remember, there are many jobs within each sector, so you do need to keep this in mind, as not all jobs will be around the salary stated. And, you’ll certainly not start on that amount!
- Customer Service – £22,396
- Secretarial & Admin – £22,948
- Social Care – £24,258
- Accountancy – £27,826
- Tourism – £28,458
- Education – £34,345
- Engineering – £35,232
- Media – £35,629
- Estate Agency – £35,994
- Sales – £36,503
- Legal – £37,210
- Marketing – £37,814
- Health & Medicine – £37,951
- Financial Services – £44,508
- Energy – £44,878
- IT – £45,413
- Banking – £49,817
- Accountancy (Qualified) – £50,761
- Consultancy & Strategy – £57,591
What’s demand like?
Knowing the salary is one thing, but demand is just as important. You want to make sure you are going to have a chance of getting a job. For example, the average salary in the energy industry looks great right? But, there have only been 798 jobs in this industry since 2015, representing a 195 decrease. Education represents the biggest number of vacancies, with more than 20,000, representing a 3,326 increase from 2015. Other industries with a high and growing number of vacancies include IT & telecoms, admin & secretarial, health & medicine, construction, and accountancy (qualified). So taking an online degree in social work, accounting, or IT would be a good move.
Summary
When thinking about the future, it is important to recognise that different jobs command different salaries. You need to consider this carefully when deciding what path to go down. You also need to think about the level of demand in the industry, as well as the opportunity to grow. You don’t want to be stuck in dead end job earning the same amount of money year on year do you?
