A few years ago I noticed that not only did different jobs pay vastly different amounts, but that the job types were ehavily stratified, making it hard for most people to work their way up to a job that paid very well from a job that paid badly.
You've got the "admin/temp/McDonalds jobs" wage band, which pays between 4 and 6 pounds an hour.
Above that you've got the "jobs for most people" band which varies between £10k and £18k.
Above that you've got "career jobs" which start at £16k and go up to around £30k (teachers, nurses, policemen, etc.)
Above that are "graduate jobs" which start around £22k and work their way up to around £50k.
And then there are "licensed careers" - lawyers, accountants, doctors, engineers - thee can start off with a period of low wages (like £8k for
Adam) but then move swiftly up the ranks until they're being paid £70k-£150k.
There's no easy way to move between salary bands - you can't be promoted from McDonalds to having a career. The only real way round this is via management - most jobs allow eventual paths into managing other people, which tends to pay extra and allow more movement, as all areas need managers somewhere.
Obviously there are areas which don't fit into this kind of stratification (self-employed people, consultants, etc.), but the vast majority do. If you're sitting in one of the lower strata and thinking "Some day I'll be doing better than this!" then I really hope that your plans involve some method of getting yourself out of that strata and into a higher one - because otherwise you're just going to make a nasty splatting sound as you hit the ceiling.
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