New research has revealed the industries featuring the meanest wage increases and estate agents are second on the list despite talk of pay inflation within the wider economy.

Weekly earnings in the property industry decreased from £647 to £629 between January 2022 and January this year, according to the figures.

The change represents a percentage decrease of 2.86%. But before readers get to woeful, there has been a 19.71% rise during the past five years up from £505 per week.

The study by financial services provider CMC Markets analysed the latest release from the Office for National Statistics, featuring results from its Wages and Salaries Survey.

It found that the financial and insurance industry has seen the biggest drop in average wages in one year. In January 2022, average weekly earnings sat at £1,746 for the industry, which went down to £1,649 this January, a decrease of 5.88%.

However, the industry has seen a five-year increase of 19.10% on average wages.

Quitting

Three out of 10 estate agents were quitting their jobs in search of extra cash, research from Nested revealed in March.

With the cost of living in the UK on the rise and salaries remaining largely stagnant many agents are, in real terms, poorer now than they have been in a long time.

Estate agent Nested measured the industry’s turnover rate in comparison to 20 other major industries, and commissioned a survey of UK property professionals to understand what exactly is making them leave one job in search of another.

As for why staff are leaving, the most common reason was the search for higher salaries, as stated by 36% of industry respondents; followed by looking for a better role (16%), stress of workload (16%), and the search for a more flexible work/life balance (11%).