Current Pay

[scoobydooby]

Is it my imagination or are Companies/Employers/Organisations playing less salaries than a few years ago? I often look through local papers or job websites and it would seem that the average wage has dropped considerably. Is unemployment really so high that we're taking jobs that pay far less than we're worth? Has anyone else noticed this? Thanks

[january_bug]

Local where?  Maybe the problem is that the job market is being saturated by people who are all over qualified.  The government is stupidly encouraging young people to go to college/uni when they don't need to, and thus we end up with a situation where HR people find it increasingly difficult to distinguish between candidates.  This could have an effect on salaries. 

Can't say I'd noticed a trend, but I honestly hadn't been looking.  As I asked before, please do tell us where "local" is, and what sort of jobs you're referring to! :-)

[Hermia]

I haven't noticed wages being less, but I think wages are looking more pathetic now because of the price of buying a house/renting. I live in a grotty area of Greater London which has suddenly become desirable 'coz we have a tube station. The wages round here seem pretty average, but it is more diffcult to live on them now.

[Andy008]

This is true, the government encourages thousands of students to start degrees in brand new "cop-out" courses at second-rate universities, thus devaluing the salaries of graduates hunting for jobs. Many new graduates are having to do two jobs just to make ends meet, due to the surplus of "talent".

At a certain university in the South-East, which will remain unnamed, courses offered include "Computer & Video Games", "Popular Music Culture", "Performance", "Property Development", and "Graphic Image Making".

Enough said.  

[january_bug]

Although we should all remember that modules within courses can be stupid, but the overall degree may still have a lot of merit. 

Also, a degree is not, and never has been, a pub quiz.  It's not just about gaining knowledge. GCSEs are about learning facts off by heart - they are a memory test.  Degrees are about academic exploration and critical arguement.  Technically, if you can have a serious and well thought out debate on any of the topics, it should be justifiable for a degree. 

That said I'd be mortified if I tured round aged 30 and realised I had studied computer games at uni!!!

[funkychicken]

my boyfriend studies computer game software engineering at uni, and its certainly not a "cop-out" course, he needs it to get the job he wants and if he can't get that job he'll still have learnt skills he can use in other jobs. previous posters have mentioned people being encouraged to go to uni when they don't need to, its probably true that most people don't need to, if they want dead end jobs, but I think you'll find theres not many people who do want dead end jobs and so go to uni to enable them to get better jobs

[scoobydooby]

Thanks for all your comments.  Apologies, I should have said where I live.  I live in the South West, so nearest towns/cities are Bristol, Swindon, Bath.  I work for local Government and have done for almost 10 years.  All of the jobs are given a pay grade when advertised (non negotiable) - this is decided by a panel consisting of HR staff and Union reps.  I've noticed more and more that they're advertising jobs at lower pay scales than they have previously done.  A few years ago a relative of mine, working in Transport & Logistics, faced redundancy.  I kept my eyes open for Managerial posts within his line of work and found that the average salary was approx. �27,000 per annum.  Luckily, he secured full time employment fairly quickly.  However, searching through current job vacancies - through curiosity more than anything, I find that the average salary now appears to be approx. �22 - �25,000 for similar roles.  Perhaps because I'm not looking seriously, I'm looking in the wrong places.