Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings

Latest results published 29 October 2024

The key points from the 'Employee earnings in NI 2024' show that:

• Median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees (“weekly earnings”) in April 2024 was £666, an increase of 4.3% from £639 in 2023. This is higher than the average annual increase over the last twenty years and follows an increase last year (7.0%) which was the second highest on record.
• In the UK, weekly earnings were £728 in April 2024, an increase of 6.0% from 2023 (£687). This is the second largest annual increase on record and follows the largest increase of 7.0% in 2023.
• In real terms (that is, adjusted for inflation) weekly earnings in NI increased by 1.2% over the year to April 2024. This increase follows two years of decreases in real earnings, with the largest annual decrease in real earnings on record reported in 2022 (3.7%). For the UK as a whole, real weekly earnings also increased (2.9%) over the year, with decreases in the previous two year.
• Median annual earnings for full-time employees in NI were £34,400 in 2024, lower than the UK median of £37,400. The highest 10% of earners in NI earned at least £60,000.

Publications 

• Employee earnings in NI 2024
• Previous publications

Detailed Outputs

1. Headline statistics for Northern Ireland
2. Industry, occupation, age, public/private sector and skill level
3. NI geographies, by place of work and place of residence
4. All tables in Open Document Spreadsheet (ODS) format

Table builder and dashboard

ASHE data is now available on the new NISRA Data Portal, allowing users to build their own bespoke tables.

The most recent ASHE headline results are summarised in charts and maps in the new ASHE Dashboard.

Data Visualisation

1. Explanation of gender pay gap

2. The Scrollytelling through Real Earnings article takes a look at the change in real earnings over the last decade and how different age groups have been affected

3. Scrollytelling through Employee Earnings shows how earnings have changed over the years and how furlough impacted them
   

   Click here for our scrollytelling article
4. Why we use the median in earnings statistics

Pensions Results

The provisional results from the pensions element of the Northern Ireland ASHE 2023 were published on 14th August 2024.

• NI ASHE Pensions Results

Earnings and Employees Study (EES) 2011

The Earnings and Employees Study (EES) 2011 links together variables from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2011 with variables from the Census of Population and Housing 2011, and Capital Value data from the Land and Property Services. 

Access to the EES dataset is limited to researchers and research teams with accredited researcher status under the Digital Economy Act (DEA) and subject to approval by each of the data providers and the UK Statistics Authority Research Accreditation Panel (RAP).

Further information on the application process is available here.

NI ASHE Background Information

• Background to the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings
• Comparison of ASHE and PAYE RTI
• Guidance for completing the ASHE 2023 survey
• ONS quality and methodology for ASHE

Mailing list

If you would like to be added to a mailing list and receive the latest publications on the day they publish please email: economicstats@nisra.gov.uk  with the title of the publications you would like to receive.