UK Finance Pay: Premium, Inflation, and Who Captures It
Data Skills · July 2026
This is a data-storytelling exercise, not a rigorously sourced statistical study: it uses illustrative, schematic figures consistent with published ONS series to argue that UK finance's pay premium has been quietly eroding in real terms since 2019, and is captured very unevenly by gender and region. The eight-panel narrative walks from the headline level premium, through inflation-adjusted (CPIH-deflated) pay, to who actually captures it — drawing on ONS earnings, gender pay gap, and inflation series (ASHE, GPG, RTI, CPIH).
Snapshot
The headline premium
Finance still commands a large level advantage vs the whole economy.
Finance vs whole-economy median pay
Schematic index: whole economy = 100. On the order of a ~60% premium in the RTI industry comparison used for the deck.
Real terms — the plot twist
Nominal rose; real sits below 2019.
Nominal vs real finance pay (2019 = 100)
Path consistent with the project narrative (~−4.7% real median). Exact ONS points live in the processed workbook.
Who captures it
Real change by role (illustrative)
Aggregate medians hide winners and losers after CPIH.
London vs rest of UK
Geographic premium is first-order — not only sector choice.
What drives the full narrative
Levels premium survives; real erosion, region, and gender complete the picture.
Conclusion
“Finance pays best” holds as a snapshot of levels, not as a complete 2019–2025 story: real median down, growth lagged, gains uneven by gender, region, and percentile.
Process
Stack
ONS ASHE · GPG · PAYE RTI · CPIH · Python (pandas) · presentation deck
Competencies
Official statistics · real vs nominal · distributional thinking · data storytelling