Who would get the most pay if it was up to you ? Top 6

For me it would be:

All non admin/management NHS staff
Teachers AND Teaching Assistants
Fire fighters
Police
Armed Forces
Care and nursery workers

I wonder what would happen if everybody was paid the same amount? Disposable income would be equal which it definitely isn’t at the moment. Who is to say whether one person’s Labour is worth more than another’s.?

Didn't the communists try this in Soviet Russia in the 1920s, I think the result was inefficiency because no one could be bothered to really work hard if they could get the same wage whether they grafted or not.

The kibbutzim of Israel worked on a similar scale. This is an interesting article on why they never really took off and many have now closed down www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-rise-and-disastrous-fall-of-the-kibbutz/

Mothers

I think people should get paid more if they do more, and have known far too many skivers to believe that if everyone got the same money they would all do the same work.

Also, I think it's human nature to be competitive in various ways, and it is pointless to try to squash that. Not everyone is necessarily motivated by money, but most people have something that drives them (power, status, feeling good about themselves etc) and not having that recognised will completely demotivate them.

As I've said, I don't think that massive differentials are a good thing, but I do think there should be some incentive to make an effort.

Doodledog

But 'we' aren't paying for footballers. They generate their salaries, or the sponsorship does. If they were paid £20k a year the difference between that and the money they are paid wouldn't be used for good causes.

Similarly, plumbers get paid what they can charge - much as dentists, hairdressers or car mechanics do. There isn't a salary scale like there is for teachers or civil servants. We can't cap their charges, but we can shop around. It is really only in the public sector that there is control over what people are paid - everywhere else the market decides depending on how easy it is to find people willing and qualified to fill any vacancies.

TV licence payers, are paying towards footballer's salarys because the BBC pays the football association obscene amounts of money which is shared out between the clubs.

That's a tenuous link at best though . A small percentage of the licence fee goes on football, and I think Sky and similar channels get more live sports broadcasts anyway.

I'm not at all saying that footballers are worth more to society than, say, carers, but there are very few of them on high salaries, and it is sponsorship that pays for them. I think a lot of people resent them because they are working class - somehow that annoys them more than paying huge sums to the royals.

lixy

medical practitioners - doctors, nurses, ward orderlies, porters
care home and 'care at home' staff
refuse collectors
emergency service staff
HGV truck drivers
public transport staff

Thank you for mentioning care home staff ..

lizzypopbottle

Premiership footballers on millions! It's obscene what they get paid for kicking a ball!

I smiled at this.
A few years ago R4 had a series on the financial worth of of different professions, jobs etc.
Two of the big earners were footballers and supermarket bosses.
The presenter said that the bosses had an extremely easy time, they only had a handful of competitors. Lots of people could do their job.
Footballers though, earned every penny because they brought in the fans who paid the clubs lots of money therefore justifying what they were paid.
Not all footballers earn such huge figures and those that do have exceptional talent that can’t be replicated by many.

I still find that a hard concept to get my head around 😂😂😂

Care givers who look after those vulnerable members of our society, old, young, the disabled. Their rates of pay are shocking, yet professionalism is encouraged and they do have to undergo training. Poor holidays, minimum sick pay, no pensions. How good is that for ‘professional’ status? Not to mention the caring, the patience, the dedication and the love that is so necessary in this most difficult of jobs. They also save the beleaguered NHS and local councils a fortune in enabling those who need care to remain in their own homes rather than a hospital or other care facility, frequently doing jobs that a trained nurse should really do. My daughter used to be a carer and loved the job but not the money or awful conditions of employment. She now runs her own little cleaning company and earns considerably more for caring for people’s homes than she did for the elderly and disabled she looked after. Until we treat carers FAR more equably, I don’t think we have the right to call ourselves a civilised society. Carers will continue to leave their jobs in droves and I don’t blame them!

There are loads of people who I think should have more money, the list goes on and on, but the people I DONT think deserve their ridiculous amount of money they get and also honours are sportsmen and women, they have always done this for their own enjoyment and gratification not for anyone else’s so why should they be so richly rewarded

NotSpaghetti

I'm not clear what you mean by this, Chardy

^In our day, to train for certain professions going to uni meant you missed out on 5 or more years of earning. Nowadays you get a bill of £30k or more, and miss out on at least 3 yrs of earning.^

A graduate won't start earning until they're at least 21. In England, apart from 16 yr old apprentices on £5.28/hr, no-one has a weekly pay packet until they're 18 (English school leaving age). So the graduate misses out on 3 yrs of earning (or more if they're doing education, medical, legal etc training)

Some of us could have left school at 16, or perhaps 15. But even then a graduate wouldn't start earning until 21.

What is an engineer? A person who fixes your washing machine? Or the person with a PhD in artificial intelligence who designs the robots that make washing machines?

Chardy

NotSpaghetti

I'm not clear what you mean by this, Chardy

^In our day, to train for certain professions going to uni meant you missed out on 5 or more years of earning. Nowadays you get a bill of £30k or more, and miss out on at least 3 yrs of earning.^

A graduate won't start earning until they're at least 21. In England, apart from 16 yr old apprentices on £5.28/hr, no-one has a weekly pay packet until they're 18 (English school leaving age). So the graduate misses out on 3 yrs of earning (or more if they're doing education, medical, legal etc training)

Some of us could have left school at 16, or perhaps 15. But even then a graduate wouldn't start earning until 21.

Over a lifetime, a graduate is very likely to more than make up for a few years of not earning, particularly as pay levels for the very young are low.

That is not the point of an education though. It would be a miserable world if people only wanted to learn things that related to their work.

Oh maggiemaybe talk about hitting the nail square on the head ! Precisely !

I do agree with all the people who said Carers should be paid more. I think the whole structure for Carers should be reviewed, their role needs to be valued more and training should be a given,

Cancel all those management jobs created for things like use of pronouns or other ridiculous crowd pleasers.

at home carers
nurses
trades people
the bottom of the list would be politicians, bankers, super rich,
vicars

Maggiemaybe I'm with you on your suggestions. Also, who every said plumbers aren't well paid, not my experience.. £40.00 for ten minutes work a month ago. Electrician 30 mins work only took £10 to cover his fuel costs.

sodapop

I do agree with all the people who said Carers should be paid more. I think the whole structure for Carers should be reviewed, their role needs to be valued more and training should be a given,

Cancel all those management jobs created for things like use of pronouns or other ridiculous crowd pleasers.

I have worked in a high dementia care home now for nearly 5 years, I love the work. The pay is appalling minimum wage and that is why we have nearly all Indian staff now because the English just don’t want the work for the poor money.
If you work Christmas Day, we just about have managed to persuade the owner to pay us time and a half, he will not hear of paying double time..🤷‍♀️

Doodledog don't forget the £30k of student loans to pay back

Chardy

Doodledog don't forget the £30k of student loans to pay back

I'm not forgetting that. I have two adult children - one is paying back loans and the other has just finished paying his. All the same, the experience of university is priceless. You can't put a price on living away from home in a semi-protected environment, learning about other people and learning to get on with them, building real transferable skills such as research, teamwork and self-discipline as well as detailed knowledge of a subject of choice and generally becoming an 'educated person'.

I may be biased, as I worked in a university for decades and still do on a part-time basis, but seeing the development of the students from first to final year makes me absolutely certain that it is not about the money, or just about fitting people to jobs.

I know that in the past not everyone got the opportunity, as it was expected that most young people would leave school and start work to contribute to the family coffers, but that doesn't mean that it wouldn't have been a great experience for them if they could have had it, and definitely doesn't mean that it shouldn't be offered to as many of today's young people as can benefit from it. I think everyone should reach their potential, whatever that may be.

I would very much prefer to go back to the days of no fees, but if we have to have them then at least the loans allow everyone to go, as there is nothing to find upfront. Many, if not most people don't pay them back, apparently, and they are written off after a while.

Mothers

We were so lucky when we were at uni,looking back. Not only did we have no loans to repay but they actually paid us a grant to attend. The time spent there was priceless,not just for the learning but for the whole atmosphere and camaraderie . Now my grandchildren spend much of their spare time working to help fund themselves and have a bit of pocket money. No one had to do that then.

All those in a caring capacity - that's millions of workers.
I can't for the life of me think why vicars would be at the bottom of the list?

If you ever get the chance to watch a film called Love a Mexican watch it.
It’s satirical but with a message. The premise, is: a fog surrounds California, all communication is lost. All the Mexicans disappear. That means the vast majority of those on a low wage are no longer there to support those at the other end of the financial spectrum.
Very funny but the message is spot on.