"Figure 7: Annual percentage growth in gross median weekly earnings was negative for the private sector but remained positive for the public sector, in April 2020","" "Percentage change in average gross median weekly earnings for full-time employees in the public and private sector, UK, April 1997 to 2020","" "","" "Notes","1. Footnotes applicable to this chart are 1 and 2 in [Section 6: Measuring the data](https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/annualsurveyofhoursandearnings/2020#measuring-the-data)." "Unit","%" "","" "","Public sector % change in median gross weekly earnings","Private sector % change in median gross weekly earnings" "1998","2.5","4.3" "1999","4.8","4.1" "2000","2.6","2.9" "2001","4.6","5.8" "2002","4.0","4.4" "2003","3.0","2.9" "2004","5.7","2.7" "2005","4.4","2.0" "2006","1.7","3.7" "2007","3.6","3.1" "2008","4.3","4.6" "2009","3.1","0.9" "2010","2.9","1.9" "2011","-0.1","-0.2" "2012","1.8","1.6" "2013","1.5","2.2" "2014","1.0","0.7" "2015","1.9","1.4" "2016","0.7","3.4" "2017","1.0","2.7" "2018","2.2","3.3" "2019","3.2","4.1" "2020","2.4","-0.6"