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Earnings and hours of work

Earnings

  • Workplace-based median weekly earnings for all employees (full and part-time) who work in Herefordshire in 2023* were £505.50 (+-£19.21): a 10.8% increase from the amount recorded for 2022 (£456.30) and a larger percentage increase than in both England (7.4%) and the West Midlands (6.4%). However, Herefordshire earnings remain significantly lower than the average for England (£577.10 +-£1.15)) and the West Midlands (£550.4 +- £5.50).
  • The largest gap between Herefordshire and the England average was amongst full-time male workers (£616.80 vs £729.60)). The gap was smaller for female full-time workers (£540.60 vs £626.00). Amongst female part-time workers, in 2023 the gap was not significant (£240.90 vs £244.90).  2023 Herefordshire data for male part-time workers are not yet available.

Figure 1: Median weekly earnings from 2008 to 2023*

Median workplace-based gross weekly earnings in Herefordshire increased in the pat year but remain significantly lower than regionally or nationally.

Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2023.  *Note: 2023 figures are provisional.

  • In 2023, Herefordshire ranked 13th out of the 14 comparator West Midlands authorities, a slight improvement from 2022 when it was the lowest. But remained in the bottom quartile of English unitary and county local authority areas.

Gender pay gap

The gender pay gap (GPG) [1] is the difference between average hourly earnings (excluding overtime) of men and women as a proportion of average hourly earnings (excluding overtime) of men.

  • Provisional data suggest that in Herefordshire in 2023, the median gender pay gap for all employees was 10.8% up from 4.8% in 2022, but still smaller than in both the West Midlands region (14.4%) and England (15.5%).
  • For full-time employees only, the gap in Herefordshire was 6.3%, up from 0.1% in 2022, but again better than the West Midlands (9.8%) and England (9%).

 Figure 4:  Gender pay gap

Representation of the gender pay gap in Herefordshire

*Note: 2023 figures are provisional.

Income

HMRC data for taxpayers shows that the median income from employment was £24,700 in 2020-21 (the latest available).  The median income across the West Midlands region was similar to Herefordshire for the same period.

This is residence-based and doesn’t account for the hours people work. The median earnings from self-employment were £16,100 compared to £16,400 across the West Midlands, although the difference was not statistically significant. 

[1] Gender pay gap (GPG) - calculated as the difference between average hourly earnings (excluding overtime) of men and women as a proportion of average hourly earnings (excluding overtime) of men. For example, a 4% GPG denotes that women earn 4% less, on average, than men. Conversely, a -4% GPG denotes that women earn 4% more, on average, than men.