http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8151355.stm
Another way of measuring it is "median" gross annual earnings.
According to ASHE, this was the more modest figure of £20,801, across all employee jobs. If you are earning that sum a year, you are "Mr or Mrs [or Ms] Mid-Point" - precisely half the surveyed working population earns less than you and half more.
For just full-time employees, the median rises to £25,123.
It's safe to assume that for many people, mere entry into the top half of the earnings pyramid does not mean you are earning a "big" salary.
How about the top 25%? A gross annual salary of £31,759 - measured across all jobs - gets you into that club.
How about if you make the top 10%? The ASHE figures reveal that a salary of £44,881 is enough to just edge into that top bracket.
A gross annual salary of £58,917 gets you into the top 5%.
But the standard that has cropped up in newsprint over the years is "the top 1%". It takes £118,027 to get into this bracket. And if you are earning £150,000 - the amount that triggers 50% income tax - you are in the top 0.6% of salaried people, according to the ASHE.
So does that mean that if you earn £45k that you are in the country's top 10% of earners? Sadly it's not as simple as that. The ASHE is a sample of 1% of people who pay tax via PAYE. It doesn't include the self-employed - businessmen, contractors etc - who make up the ranks of the really wealthy.
Another way of measuring it is "median" gross annual earnings.
According to ASHE, this was the more modest figure of £20,801, across all employee jobs. If you are earning that sum a year, you are "Mr or Mrs [or Ms] Mid-Point" - precisely half the surveyed working population earns less than you and half more.
For just full-time employees, the median rises to £25,123.
It's safe to assume that for many people, mere entry into the top half of the earnings pyramid does not mean you are earning a "big" salary.
How about the top 25%? A gross annual salary of £31,759 - measured across all jobs - gets you into that club.
How about if you make the top 10%? The ASHE figures reveal that a salary of £44,881 is enough to just edge into that top bracket.
A gross annual salary of £58,917 gets you into the top 5%.
But the standard that has cropped up in newsprint over the years is "the top 1%". It takes £118,027 to get into this bracket. And if you are earning £150,000 - the amount that triggers 50% income tax - you are in the top 0.6% of salaried people, according to the ASHE.
So does that mean that if you earn £45k that you are in the country's top 10% of earners? Sadly it's not as simple as that. The ASHE is a sample of 1% of people who pay tax via PAYE. It doesn't include the self-employed - businessmen, contractors etc - who make up the ranks of the really wealthy.
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