New figures show people in the Island are earning, on average, slightly less than their UK counterparts.

The Treasury’s annual Earnings Survey shows the average earnings in the Isle of Man were one per cent below the UK level when the survey was carried out in June.

Researchers asked companies to provide records for just over 1,300 people, asking about their sex, age, occupation, industry, length of service and weekly hours, as well as gross earnings.

It’s not all bad news though - average pay increased by 3.2 per cent to ?569 per week.

The data shows the pay increase is just under that of the UK for the twelve months up to April 2008.

The figures show half the Island’s full-time workers earned more than ?472 per week, and the average full-timer worked 38.1 hours per week, including slightly more than an hour of overtime.

Three-quarters of employees were in work for less than 40 hours per week, however.

The figure also shows if you want to earn the most, you should be a man in the finance sector – their average weekly wage is ?737.

Less fortunate are women working in catering or hospitality: their average wage is just ?337 per week.