Although the recession is still continuing in the UK, employers are seeing improvements in the economy, and the number of vacancies is now increasing. Salaries are however not forecast to increase significantly this year as most companies are still keeping careful about money.
There are still great paychecks to be had though – provided you are prepared to work for them.
Below is a list of the top 20 best paid jobs in the UK according to the ONS.
| Job Title | Salary |
| Directors and chief executives | £212,910 |
| Brokers | £94,293 |
| Financial managers and chartered secretaries | £77,931 |
| Aircraft pilots and flight engineers | £63,664 |
| Managers (mining and energy) | £58,802 |
| Managers (research and development) | £54,950 |
| Police officers (inspector and above) | £54,241 |
| Managers (marketing and sales) | £54,029 |
| Lawyers, judges and coroners | £52,049 |
| Air traffic controllers | £51,911 |
| Legal professionals | £50,649 |
| Personnel and industrial relations managers | £49,717 |
| Managers (purchasing managers) | £49,148 |
| IT strategy and planning professionals | £48,787 |
| Managers (advertising and PR) | £48,258 |
| Management consultants and economists | £47,517 |
| Finance and investment analysts | £46,718 |
| Local government officers (senior) | £44,755 |
| Financial and accountant technicians | £44,204 |
| Fire, ambulance and prison officers (senior) | £43,810 |
One thing to note about this table is that the salaries listed above are averages for the role, and do not include any bonuses. Some roles, such as “broker” could well result in a much higher take home wage. Some roles that you might expect to see such as “musician” or “footballer” do not appear as the vast majority of professional sports people earn a much lower wage than the highly paid members of premiership sides.
What is quite surprising about this list is that there are so many public service jobs listed (5) – although what this reflects is the competition for good people that the public service faces these days.
There are also many roles in Finance listed in the top 20 best paid jobs list above including brokers.
The thing that is most notable about this list is that almost all the jobs listed above require the employee to have a degree - while there may be some debate about the value of a university education, it appears that a degree is a necessity for the kind of strategic roles that deliver a substantial wage.