Value to Society


  1. Waste recycling workers, £6.10 per hour, undertake a range of tasks embracing the processing and prevention of waste and promoting recycling. Recycling significantly reduces carbon emissions. There is value too in reusing goods. For every £1 of value spent on wages, £12 of value will be generated.
  2. Hospital cleaners, salary £6.26 per hour, play a crucial role in delivering safe health care. They clean hospitals, help maintain standards of hygeine and protect against infection. They also contribute to health outcomes. It is estimated that for every £1 they are paid, over £10 in social value is generated.
  3. Childcare workers, salary scale £10,000-£13,000, could not be more important for society as a whole. As well as supllying a valuable service for families, childcare workers release earnings potential by allowing parents to carry on working. They also unlock social benefits in the form of learning opportunities that children gain outside the home. For every pound they are paid, childcare workers generate between £7 and £9.50 worth of benefits to society.
  4. High-earning investment bankers in the City of London. The earnings they command and the profits they make come at a high cost because of the damaging social effects of their financial activities. Rather than being ‘wealth creators’, ‘these City bankers are being handsomely rewarded for bringing the global financial system to the brink of collapse’. While collecting salaries of between £500,000 and £10 million, leading City bankers destroy £7 of social value for every pound in value they generate.
  5. Advertising executives enjoy high status but their impact remains controversial. ‘It can create insatiable aspirations, fuel feelings of dissatisfaction, inadequacy and stress.’ According to the analysis, top advertising executives destroy £11 of value for every pound they generate.
  6. Tax accountants come in different shapes and sizes, but for for some highly paid representatives their sole purpose is to help rich people and companies pay less tax; in such cases the positive benefits for society are negligible. HM Revenue loses out. For a salary of between £75,000 and £200,000 tax accountants destroy £47 of value for every pound in value they generate.
  7. Waste recycling workers, £6.10 per hour, undertake a range of tasks embracing the processing and prevention of waste and promoting recycling. Recycling significantly reduces carbon emissions. There is value too in reusing goods. For every £1 of value spent on wages, £12 of value will be generated.