Soaring wages

University-of-york_central-hall-viewThe University of York will spend over £43 million in 2013 on the wages of academic staff, according to data received by Vision.

The University currently employs 799 academic staff, with the average wage paid being £57,776, and the total expenditure amounting to £43,001,255. The rate in which the national wage has increased has stagnated over recent years, however the expenditure on wages by the University has continued to increase.

In 2008 the University spent £31,621,491 on wages, with the average wage being £48,577. Therefore there has been a 19% increase in the average wage paid to academic staff at the University between 2008 and 2013.

Academics in the department of health sciences are the most highly paid staff, earning an average of £72,279 a year, whilst the lowest paid department is education with the average employee earning £50,048 per year. Since 2008 the average wage of Health Science academics have increased by 34%, contrasting with the national wage which has increased by a lowly figure.

As the University has expanded over recent years, the number of staff has also increased, with the University currently employing 118 more academic staff than they did in 2008. The department which requires the largest expenditure is biology, on which the University will spend £2,884,178 in 2008.

Second year English student Ben Bason explained his thoughts to Vision. “I’m sure there’s probably a legitimate reason why the wages have gone up so much over the past years.”

Wages vary departmentally, and since 2009 the wage of history staff has risen by a meagre £193, and the earnings of an academic at the Hull-York Medical School has declined by over £8000.

The overall wage increases of academic staff come at a time when there are still some employees of the University, who are not being paid the living wage. On the matter first year Mathematics student Andrew Lister stated: “It’s normal for wages to be rising to keep up with inflation, but the fact that a University can’t pay some of their employees more than the living wage is ridiculous.”

Academic Officer Graeme Osborn told Vision: “The University needs to ensure that it strikes the correct balance between attracting and retaining the best academics, paying all staff fairly and getting the best value for what is at the end of the day students’ money.”

One of the main things that YUSU are currently focusing on is to ensure that all staff are paid the living wage, and a referendum is to be held on this issue next week.

One thought on “Soaring wages

  1. So since 2008, we’ve built a new campus with several departments being formed or expanded.

    No surprise that the wage bill goes up if you’re employing more staff, and also when you consider inflation.

    As for the University not being able to pay living wages, its unfortunate but I can’t see it happening in a better alternative way. Who foots the bill for that? Do we want to pay on top of our 9k?

    Its like an intellectual football club. Spend the big bucks on your prized academic assets, and then pay the people who actually do the day-to-day running absolutely nothing.

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