1st weeks wage for me as an apprentice plant/vehicle mechanic for (then) Durham Rural District Council in February 1972 was £7.26. My Mum let me keep it all.
First proper job started in October 1985 at £ 150 per week. Slightly more than doubled my take-home compared with the postgrad student grant I'd been on before.
1984 - the YTS paid £24.00 per week except the agricultural trades equivalent I was on was £15.00 iirc. Folks had £7.00 for house keeping.
1997 cushy civil service job - £15k per year
Minimal rent and living it up in Edinburgh - happy days
Worked a Saturday job at Marks & Spencers in MCR from 1979.£13 a day.Canteen lunch time M&S meal was a subsidised 5p with a staff voucher!
A pint of OB's bitter at my local was 28p.My beer to wages ratio hasn't really improved that much 🙁
£1.94 p/hr stacking shelves in Morrison's at 15 in 1995. A year later I got a job in the hospital laundry paying £3.47, I couldn't believe my luck! (If I didn't get that job, I probably wouldn't be where I am today, so more lucky than I realised at the time.)
