THE average salary for Guernsey employees is more than £500 a week – £27,037 a year. The figure, released today by the Advisory and Finance Committee, is a surprising £4,300 a year more than Jersey and £5,000 in excess of the average in the Isle of Man. And it is nearly two years out of date. A and F officials admit to being embarrassed by the figure and the fairly primitive methods of calculating it. It has urged unions and employee groups not to make too much of the statistic in pay negotiations, but it is certain to fuel the ‘poverty wages’ debate. An A and F spokesman said: ‘The statistics are produced by different methods, but it is difficult to accept that the real average earnings are so much higher in Guernsey than in Jersey. The perceived wisdom is that the opposite is true.’ Committee president Laurie Morgan said: ‘While the method used to produce this figure draws on the best information currently available, the committee does not believe that it gives an entirely reliable measure of the actual average earnings in a particular year. ‘The committee hopes that these figures are taken for what they are and are not misused to the detriment of the economy.’ A and F has previously produced details of the annual percentage change in average earnings, but had not published the earnings figure. It also calculates that average earnings rose by 10.2% in 2001. It said that its calculations could be best used to indicate the trend in earnings in percentage terms. The average earnings figure is one of three reports just issued, or soon to be published, by the committee. It has welcomed official endorsement by the UK Office of National Statistics of the method used locally to calculate the retail price index. In the next couple of weeks it is expecting to receive a report of a working group involving representatives of the Transport and General Workers’ Union and the Civil Service Board, which was set up to oversee an assessment in the relative cost of living in Guernsey compared with various parts of the UK. ‘As well as being indicators of economic trends, cost-of -living figures are used as a benchmark in reviews of pay levels and charges. It is vitally important therefore that those figures, and any other economic indicators that may influence pay levels and charges, are reliable,’ said Deputy Morgan. Jersey and Isle of Man statistics are collated accurately because information on earnings is provided to the government. ‘We don’t think we could produce a figure we could put our name to with confidence without obligating employers to give us the information,’ said the spokesman. ‘As a general principle, A and F is reluctant to introduce any new legislation unless it is absolutely necessary. And the committee is not convinced of the value of publishing a single “one size fits all” figure for average earnings.’