Defining the working class based on salary in the UK can be tricky, as there are many factors that contribute to social class beyond just income. However, most experts agree that the working class typically refers to households earning between £12,000 to £30,000 annually.
What is considered working class in the UK?
The term “working class” refers to a broad socioeconomic group of people who rely on wages from labor rather than investments or capital assets. Traditionally, the working class encompasses lower-skilled and lower-paid jobs in sectors like manufacturing, construction, transportation, maintenance, and service industries.
Some key characteristics that define the working class include:
- Reliance on hourly wages rather than salaries
- Manual, blue-collar, or low-skilled occupations
- Limited education qualifications beyond high school
- Lack of savings, investments, or accumulated wealth
- Financial insecurity and dependence on each paycheck
- Limited benefits, job security, and upward mobility
However, the concept of social class goes beyond just occupation and income. Other factors like education, culture, ancestry, accent, neighborhood, values, and lifestyle habits also shape class identity. So defining the working class solely by salary ranges can be reductive.
What are typical working class salaries in the UK?
While there are no definitive thresholds, most research suggests that the working class in contemporary Britain comprises households earning between:
- £12,000 to £20,000 for the lower working class
- £20,000 to £30,000 for the upper working class
However, regional variations in costs of living may shift these ranges. In higher-cost areas like London, working class incomes tend to be higher.
Some key benchmarks:
- The national living wage for 2023 over age 23 is £9.50 per hour or about £18,000 annually if working full-time hours.
- The Joseph Rowntree Foundation defines minimum income standard for UK households as £19,400 for a single adult, £26,500 for a couple with no kids.
- The median gross annual income in the UK is approximately £31,400 per household.
- The top 10% of UK households earn above £60,000.
So most consider those earning below the median and national living standards but above poverty thresholds to be working class.
Lower working class – £12,000 to £20,000
This income bracket includes:
- Minimum wage and entry level jobs
- Part-time, temporary, informal work
- Routine manual occupations
- Clerical, sales, administrative roles
Those earning £12,000 to £20,000 struggle with chronic financial insecurity. They can seldom afford middle class consumer lifestyles and assets. Savings are minimal, debts are common. Housing is likely rented, lower-quality, and cramped. The lower working class suffers the most economic vulnerability.
Upper working class – £20,000 to £30,000
This income range includes more skilled occupations like:
- Supervisors, foremen, craftsmen
- Tradesmen, machine operators
- Technical and mechanical roles
- Police, firefighters, military
- Unionized factory jobs and apprenticeships
Those earning £20,000 to £30,000 can afford modest material comforts and occasionally purchase consumer durables. Housing may be rented but is adequate quality. Some precariousness remains but lifestyles are more stable than lower tier.
How do experts define UK working class?
Sociologists, economists, and public policy groups use various criteria to define the British working class today:
NS-SEC occupational coding
The National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC) is the official UK government scheme for classifying occupational data. It defines working class as:
- Semi-routine and routine manual/service jobs
- Never worked or long term unemployed
This aligns to lower-skilled, lower-status roles with higher job insecurity. NS-SEC does not use income thresholds.
Market research definitions
Consumer market research firms like MRS, YouGov, and Ipsos MORI may classify working class as DE social grade in the NRS system:
- D – Semi-skilled and unskilled manual occupations
- E – Unemployed, minimum wage earners, casual workers
This grades social class based on occupation first, then correlates income.
Resolution Foundation
The non-profit Resolution Foundation focuses on improving living standards for low-to-middle earners. They define a sustained income range for the working class based on a percentage of median income:
- Below two-thirds of gross median income
- Approximately £20,000 to £25,000 currently in the UK
Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)
The IFS economic think tank defines low-to-middle income households as those below the 30th income percentile. This aligns to earnings between:
- £14,000 to £28,000 for a single adult
- £19,000 to £44,000 for a couple with no children
Overall, most research definitions focus on earnings between £12,000 to £30,000 annually as the contemporary UK working class.
What jobs are considered working class in Britain?
Traditional working class jobs involve manual or low-skilled work in sectors like:
- Manufacturing and factory work
- Construction, utilities, and trades
- Warehousing, delivery, and transportation
- Retail cashiers and sales assistants
- Food service and hospitality
- Sanitation, janitorial, and cleaning services
- Healthcare assistants and home care
- Childcare, elderly care, and personal services
- Farming, fishing, and agriculture
- Clerical and administrative roles
- Textiles, packing, canning, and processing work
Many working class jobs pay at or near minimum wage and have limited career progression. They typically require vocational qualifications rather than academic credentials.
However, the lines have blurred with the decline of manufacturing. Many call center, retail, care, and transportation jobs now classify as working class though they are in the service sector.
How has the working class changed in the UK?
The UK working class has undergone major changes in composition and conditions over the decades:
- Deindustrialization and offshoring of manufacturing since the 1970s caused major job losses for traditional skilled working class roles.
- Margaret Thatcher’s economic policies weakened the power of unions and labor organizations.
- Wage stagnation and rising income inequality has pressed downward on working class living standards.
- Working hours have increased and job security has declined with more zero-hour, temporary contracts.
- Home ownership rates have dropped among the working class.
- The service economy now employs more working class labor than manufacturing.
- Higher education expansion has reduced the share with only secondary schooling.
- Immigration has increased the ethnic diversity of the working class.
Overall, the UK working class now struggles with more economic instability. But composition has diversified and lines between classes have blurred.
What are the weekly, monthly, and hourly average salaries for UK working class?
Typical average earnings for full-time jobs in the UK working class include:
| Income Type | Lower Range | Upper Range |
|---|---|---|
| Annual salary | £12,000 – £20,000 | £20,000 – £30,000 |
| Monthly salary | £1,000 – £1,667 | £1,667 – £2,500 |
| Weekly salary | £230 – £385 | £385 – £575 |
| Hourly wage | £7.83 – £13.00 | £13.00 – £19.23 |
However, many working class jobs pay hourly or minimum wage. Around 23% of UK workers earn less than £10 per hour according to the Resolution Foundation. The current National Living Wage is £9.50 per hour for over 23s.
How does cost of living affect working class wages?
Regional variations in cost of living significantly impact the earning ability of the UK working class. Areas with higher housing, childcare, transport and other costs require higher incomes just to meet basic needs.
According to the Living Wage Foundation, the real living wage in the UK is:
- £11.05 per hour in London
- £9.90 per hour in the rest of the UK
This is over £2 per hour higher than the statutory National Living Wage floor. It demonstrates that those earning minimum wage or near poverty levels struggle greatly in high-cost metropolitan areas.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation calculates that single working-age adults need a minimum income after housing costs of:
- £24,752 in London
- £20,643 in urban south England
- £18,744 in suburban and rural southern England
- £17,752 in urban northern England
- £17,016 in urban Yorkshire and Humberside
So living expenses in London and the South East require working class wages 25-50% higher than other regions.
Comparing working class wages UK vs London
| UK | London | |
|---|---|---|
| Lower working class income | £12,000 – £20,000 | £18,000 – £24,000 |
| Upper working class income | £20,000 – £30,000 | £24,000 – £35,000 |
| Living wage per hour | £9.90 | £11.05 |
Overall, London workers need to earn 25-40% more compared to the national average to maintain the same standard of living.
Conclusion
Defining the contemporary British working class solely by salary is difficult due to the diversity of incomes now comprising this group. But most experts agree households earning between £12,000 to £30,000 in annual wages represent the lower half of UK socioeconomic distribution.
This income bracket aligns to manual, low-skilled, or routine service sector jobs that have faced declining stability since the 1970s. However, regional variations in costs of living, particularly in London and the South East, require working class salaries 20-40% higher in those areas to have comparable lifestyles to the national average.