Key economic indicators

Earnings and pay

% annual rise Whole economy* Manufacturing* Services* Private sector* Public sector* LRD average pay deals**

Jan 2004 7.2 3.6 8.5 8.0 4.0 3.0

Feb 3.9 3.5 3.7 3.8 4.4 3.0

Mar 4.3 3.6 4.7 4.3 4.4 3.0

Apr 4.5 4.7 4.3 4.6 4.1 3.1

May 4.1 4.3 3.7 4.0 4.6 3.1

Jun 4.1 4.1 4.0 4.0 4.5 3.1

Jul 3.3 3.8 2.9 3.2 3.7 3.1

Aug 4.1 3.3 4.0 4.0 4.5 3.0

Sep 3.9 3.1 3.9 3.8 4.4 3.0

Oct 4.2 3.4 4.3 4.1 4.8 3.0

Nov (r) 4.6 2.9 4.7 4.6 4.7 3.0

Dec (r) 4.3 3.7 4.3 4.3 4.4 3.2

Jan 2005 (p) 4.2 3.2 4.3 4.1 4.8

Headline rate for Jan*** 4.4 3.2 4.4 4.4 4.6 3.5

* Average weekly earnings in Great Britain, seasonally adjusted, as monitored by National Statistics.

** The midpoint of pay settlements for the latest three months as monitored on the Labour Research Department's PayLine database.

*** The average of the earnings increase figures for the latest three months compared with a year earlier.

(r) revised (p) provisional

Retail prices

Retail prices index* % annual increase Consumer prices index % increase

Jan 2004 183.1 2.6 1.4

Feb 183.8 2.5 1.3

Mar 184.6 2.6 1.1

Apr 185.7 2.5 1.2

May 186.5 2.8 1.5

Jun 186.8 3.0 1.6

Jul 186.8 3.0 1.4

Aug 187.4 3.2 1.3

Sep 188.1 3.1 1.1

Oct 188.6 3.3 1.2

Nov 189.0 3.4 1.5

Dec 189.9 3.5 1.6

Jan 2005 188.9 3.2 1.6

Feb 189.6 3.2 1.6

*Jan 1987 = 100

Source: National Statistics

Full-time average weekly earnings by occupation

£pw

All workers 536.20

All male 591.30

All female 446.30

Managers 803.10

Professionals 713.50

Associate professionals* 571.90

Admin & secretarial 371.20

Skilled/craft 451.50

Services** 307.60

Sales 309.50

Operatives 405.50

Other manual jobs*** 326.50

* Associate professionals include technicians, nurses, police, firefighters, media/PR workers, train drivers, legal and finance workers and sales reps.

** Services means personal service occupations such as care workers, travel assistants, hairdressers, caretakers.

*** Other manual jobs refers to "elementary" occupations including farm workers, labourers, dockers, postal workers, porters, waiters, cleaners.

Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2004 (uprated)