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Want to earn more money? Data suggests you might want to become a contractor!

With the latest labour market statistics from the ONS revealing that average weekly earnings for UK workers have increased by 3.4%, further data released today by CV-Library has found that contractor wages for engineering roles are drastically outpacing average pay across the UK.

The leading independent job board analysed average salary data from hundreds of thousands of contractor jobs posted on its site and compared these figures with average pay across each sector. 

It found that while the average annual pay for engineering professionals stands at £36,050, contractors can expect to earn up to £63,252.80 a year.

As such, engineering is the top sector for contractor pay* that outpaces the industry average:

Engineering – 75.5% above average

Social Care – 72.2% above average

Manufacturing – 66.9% above average

Design – up 66.8% above average

Construction – 46% above average

Lee Biggins, founder and CEO of CV-Library comments: “It’s no secret that contractors command far higher salaries than the average UK worker and our data shows that engineering professionals could be earning up to 75.5% more than average. That being said, contracting isn’t for everyone, especially if you’re looking for stability and key workplace perks from your employer.”

In addition to the above, the job board found that the average day rate for contractors working in engineering stood at £244.33, with certain job roles commanding even higher pay packets:

Software Engineer – £361.25 per day

Civil Engineer – £296.52 per day

Site Engineer – £288.04 per day

Design Engineer – £272.81

Mechanical Engineer – £249.93 per day

Biggins continues: “High pay and flexibility can certainly be appealing factors, but at the end of the day, it’s up to your own personal preferences and what feels right for you.”

*Average day rate for contractor included in the table. From this figure the average annual pay for contractors was calculated and compared with the average annual pay for each industry

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