Let me put this into context. The above data is for 2015 and includes annual updates from 1995. GVA in the UK economy was £1.605 billion in 2015, which makes the sector share of GDP 2.5%. However, the sector employed 2,174,000 people in that year, which is 6.6% of the employed population of approx. 30 million in the same year. The GVA per head is a good proxy for average wages in the sector. Given that average real earnings were £26,000 per head, this sector pays only 76% of the average earnings. The final figure measures the annual growth in output, which is a measure of labour productivity. It should come as no surprise that this sector is one of the lowest productivity sectors in the UK economy.
