"Figure 1: Mean hourly earnings for all employees by age and sector, April 2015","" "UK","" "","" "Notes","1. Data for 2015 is provisional 2. The hourly pay of all employees rises sharply between the ages of 17 and 42 years old, as job related skills and experience is rewarded 3. The private sector wage level is higher between the ages of 38 and 56, but declines faster after this age compared with the public sector" "Unit","Mean hourly pay (£)" "","" "Age","Public sector","Private sector" "16","5.82","8.21" "17","7.05","6.03" "18","7.78","6.76" "19","8.34","7.24" "20","9.45","7.79" "21","10.08","8.54" "22","10.90","9.01" "23","11.80","9.84" "24","12.74","10.43" "25","13.43","10.99" "26","13.85","11.86" "27","15.06","12.42" "28","15.20","12.78" "29","15.95","13.55" "30","15.87","14.35" "31","16.14","14.80" "32","16.64","15.70" "33","16.69","16.32" "34","17.34","16.12" "35","17.28","16.95" "36","17.39","17.92" "37","17.29","17.24" "38","17.91","18.45" "39","18.08","18.45" "40","17.87","17.88" "41","18.21","17.64" "42","17.19","19.01" "43","17.16","18.85" "44","17.34","18.18" "45","18.04","18.29" "46","16.77","18.16" "47","17.03","17.63" "48","17.19","17.54" "49","17.31","18.70" "50","17.23","17.77" "51","17.14","17.58" "52","17.27","17.57" "53","16.77","17.10" "54","17.30","16.74" "55","17.02","16.70" "56","16.65","17.20" "57","16.82","16.10" "58","17.05","16.00" "59","16.67","14.87" "60","16.28","14.68" "61","15.06","14.34" "62","15.75","14.60" "63","17.41","14.75" "64","16.64","13.75"