I can't find any statistics on what people with PhDs are being paid in industry for there first job after completing.

Anyone any idea?

Good question. I heard from a lecturer in Pharmacokinetics that a newly qualified PhD can go into industry and start on £40-50k. Having said that, I think he may have been stretching it a little. I'd suggest £20-25k but may be wrong. Also, which area are you talking about - I presume that it varies widely depending on the industry.

Yes I just came back as I twigged I hadn't put what area. I was thinking about Engineering.

If you go into industry, I've heard of someone on 30k, although that's only one person. However, someone with an engineering phd is probably qualified to go into finance, which i'm sure pays more...

i think in science its around 30k....

Been looking around at postdoc wages and they seem to be in the range 24-31k

Am I right in saying that if you stay in academia, for a post doc it's about 18k?

I think they're a bit more than that 22K ish

Maybe it depends where you live. The ones I know in industry are on 17-20,000 and in academia about 20-24,000.

I'm very surprised that academia pays more than industry...

Depends who you work for. Where I was the wage was 17,000, but that was a small company (8 staff). Bigger companies probably do pay more than academia.

is postdoc stipend also tax free?

No, it's not!