黑洞社区

Average earnings edged closer to 拢1,000 a week last month with weekly earnings hitting all-time highs in three regions, payroll firm Hudson Contract has said.

It said average earnings went 1.5% to 拢992 per week last month, a rise of 5% on the same period last year.

And it said weekly earnings hit all-time highs in the East of England (拢1,092), London (拢1,041) and Yorkshire and Humber (拢981) during November.

Self-employed electricians enjoyed the highest pay of all the trades, earning an average of 拢1,199 per week with shopfitters, joiners, M&E workers and plumbers all seeing weekly pay packets stay above the 拢1,000 mark.

Ian Anfield, managing director of Hudson Contract, said: 鈥淥ur clients are busy but as we have seen for some time tender opportunities are slowing down as housebuilders react to challenging conditions in the mortgage market caused by the increased cost of borrowing. Sooner or later, developers will have to choose between maintaining their turnover or their margin.

鈥淢any clients believe the housing market will contract next year but based on our past experience, construction firms will still want to retain their most productive operatives. During the last downturn in 2007-09, we saw that self-employed tradespeople with the right mix of skills and experience continued to command high rates of pay. It was the newly qualified, the improvers and the young who suffered.鈥�

The North-east was the only region where weekly pay packets slipped last month, falling by just over 2% to an average 拢746.