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North-South wage gap widens in travel
The North-South wage gap widened last year in the travel sector.
The average travel job in the south paid £28,746 compared to £23,233 in the north, meaning the average travel employee in the south earned just over 21% more than a worker in the north.
The gap had narrowed slightly in 2018 to 17% but was 24% in 2017 and 21% in 2016.
According to analysis of 2019 statistics by C&M Travel Recruitment and C&M Executive Recruitment, salaries for the average new job in travel across the UK increased by 5% in 2019 to reach £28,196.
This marks the fifth consecutive year of growth, with travel wages now rising in eight of the past nine years.
There was also a small rise in salaries for standard travel jobs (those paying up to £40,000) which increased by 0.62 per cent to £24,942 in 2019. These have now increased every year since 2015.
Meanwhile, salaries for senior travel jobs (those paying £40,000 and above) increased for the fourth consecutive year with 5.37% annual growth to reach an average figure of £58,589.
Barbara Kolosinska, director at both companies, said: "With their biggest annual growth since 2012, it was a very good year for new travel job salaries which have risen by an average of £1,342 over the 12 months.
"However, 2019 wasn’t an easy year for the travel industry – both politically and economically it was a year of uncertainty and this undoubtedly contributed to the more muted activity levels that we saw over the past 12 months. With many of these issues now seemingly resolved, we’re hopeful that 2020 will be a more positive year all round.
"Nevertheless, it is likely to remain a candidate driven market with the best applicants being high in demand, so we expect to see companies continuing to improve their recruitment packages in 2020 in an effort to entice the best talent to join their teams."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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