Beat you to it, London_Calling!
Rastahomie:
(note - £1 is worth about US$1.55-US$1.60 or thereabouts)
There is a minimum wage - £3.60 for workers aged 22 or over
(increasing to £3.70 from 1 October 2000), or £3.20 for workers aged 18 to 21 or aged 22 or over and on accredited training (from the Department of Trade and Industry website). It’s a relatively recent introduction here.
Average wages depend on where in the country you live. I’m doing average secretarial/PA/admin/data entry temp work and I expect betweem £9.00/hr and £10.00/hr for Central London. Wages decrease proportionally outside London - maybe £6.00/hr in the South East and £5.00/hr to £6.00/hr in cities in the north or Scotland. Checkout staff can earn (depending on age, location and experience) between minimum wage and £6.00/hr. The average startin salary for a university graduate is (IIRC) about £20,000pa, although includes the really high-flyers. A more realistic graduate salary would, in my opinion, be closer to £16,000pa (obviously depending on profession).
According to the government, average gross weekly earnings is about £383 (ranging from about £565 for males in London to about £271 for females in the East Midlands). The English weekly average is £389.90, Scottish £350.30, Welsh £343.90 and Northern Irish £332.60 (table here).
The table linked here shows social stats like % of homes with TVs and the like, plus welfare figures.
The tables linked here are from an international price comparison report prepared by the government. The headline results were…
[quote]
In comparing retail prices for the UK against all three countries (France, Germany and the US), the majority of items successfully surveyed proved not to be significantly different - 45, in fact, fell into this category.
The UK was most expensive for 8 of the surveyed items:
[ul]
[li]Top 10 CDs[/li][li]A branded games console[/li][li]A 2 litre bottle of branded cola[/li][li]Packed ground coffee[/li][li]Cans of Lager[/li][li]Tinned Dog Food[/li][li]A bottle of branded & non-branded Shampoo[/li][li]Toilet Tissue[/li]
The UK was least expensive for 3 of the surveyed items:
[li]A 500gm pack of branded Cornflakes[/li][li]A packet of Choc Chip Cookies[/li][li]A long-sleeved Man’s Shirt[/ul][/li][/quote]