First Wage

[magpie]

When i left school in 1975 aged 16 i got a job as a trainee storekeeper at a furniture factory. All paperwork then as there were no computers but also a lot of heavy lifting. Anyway, this Thursday, Leap year day, it will be 44 years since it closed and i was made redundant. I have been thinking about it a lot this week, the people, the job which i really enjoyed. It also made me think of my first ever wage. The hours were 8 until 5 Monday to Friday with a 30 minute lunch and a morning and afternoon 15 minute break and the first week i did the 40 hours plus i worked 4 on the Saturday morning. The following week when i got my first ever wage i took home after offtakes £14.88 which you had to queue up and sign for, and my Dad took it and gave me £5 back, the rest was for board. So 44 hours for a fiver in my pocket.
As i said, it will be 44 years since it closed and I spent that summer enjoying the rest and relaxation, then in the October started my caretaking life which lasted 41 years until i was forced into early retirement.
Can you remember the very first wage that you ever earned, not just in caretaking?

[Cherryf1]

Apprentice sewing machine mechanic 1977 £20 a week

[skirbeck]

i started in retail at Wigfalls. that was September 1981, 39hr week for £23.50

[Keyolder]

1970, apprentice electrician around £7 ish take home per week. Out of that I had to contribute £1 for tool purchase, I also had to enrol in day release college one day per week plus night school as my maths CSE results were not quite up to the required standard.

Not sure how much I gave my mum for board and lodgings, but I do remember after travel and food I wasn’t left with much. I do however remember 2 sausages chips and beans plus a mug of tea in a local cafe was two bob or 10p back then.

[Maverick]

In 1980 when the government came up with the YTS (youth training scheme) in order to disguise the unemployment figures I came home with £23.20.
........and yes I had to give my dad keep but still could afford stuff.

The scheme was payable for 6 months at which point the employer was given the option to keep you on, which they never did. It was then re-branded a YOP (youth opportunity program) and the length extended to 12 months and the pay increased to £26. likewise you were then looking for another job one year later.

I will always remember looking at a card in the Job Centre. The remembering bit was the pay for a skilled person not the role. It was £40 for 40 hours. Easy to remember at £1 an hour.

[Vera]

Late ish 80's
My first proper job was working at a place that made specialist computers for the science and university research industries and D/A A/D boards for Apple II computers.
I was paid around £350 a month. Not bad for them days.

My first pay was at 16 working collecting glasses in a working mans club.

[Dean 08]

First wage was a part week for around £14.00 in 1983 which I gave to my parents, and got a fiver back. First full wage was £39.50 which I got to keep without giving any board. The board of £10 began the next week. I never felt so rich!

[MrMatt]

While I was in school I did three gardens every two weeks and got a fiver per garden 1983 - 1988. I then got a job in the local video shop in 1989 which paid me £100 a week 48 hours. First proper job paid me £3.72 an hour.........I was loaded .

[eebagum]

Left school 27/5/77 at 15 and half years old Started on 30/5/77 as a landscape gardener. first weeks wage £19.76.. started at 7.30 finished at 4-30. Great job.

[thecaretaker]

I was a trainee hotel manager for Trust House Forte based at The Castle Hotel for most of my time. It was my first full time job after doing lots of seasonal work. I earned £18 per month all found (Live In). Truth was, they owned you and I was doing 80-100 hours per week Queens 25th Jubilee year (1977). Windsor was seething with tourists from all over the world. I did it for 2 years. Once a mug, always a mug.

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