"Around ten per cent of the gross pay of full-time employees comes from additional payments such as overtime pay, incentive pay and shift pay. The importance of these components of pay has changed little over the last ten years. However, although only a minority of the workforce receive these payments, where received they can contribute a significant amount towards gross pay.The way in which we work has changed over the last decade with a move towards more flexible working arrangements. This article looks at how the structure of pay has changed over this period and who gets the various additional payments, considering men, women and all full-time employees. The article then looks at the composition of pay within industrial sectors and by occupation within selected industrial sectors. The sectors with the highest occurrences of each type of additional pay component were selected and analysed to establish what influence receiving that particular component had on the composition of pay and on gross earnings overall. Overtime pay in the transport, storage and communication sector is examined, incentive pay in the financial intermediation sector and shift pay in the health and social work sector.The article uses data from the New Earnings Survey."

Support: Paper