That’s right, some pay is going down

THE SALARIES of magazine sub-editors in London are falling, according to a survey by the NUJ London Magazine branch. Nearly all journalists’ wages are falling behind inflation — and they’re working longer hours for them.

The average salary for subs revealed by the anonymous survey was £23,880 a year — compared with £24,775 in a 1999 survey and £23,960 in 2005.

Reporters’ pay has risen by only 1.6 per cent a year since 2000, from £22,270 to £25,440 a year. But editors have done better: their pay has risen by 3.35 per cent over that period.

The lowest salary reported was a “scandalous” £18,000 — and that journalist was working around 48 hours a week. Only 10 per cent of 200-plus respondents said they kept to their contracted 35 hours a week.

The Journalist is published by the National Union of Journalists