Key economic statistics

Earnings and pay

% annual rise Whole economy (1) Manufacturing (1) Services (1) Private sector (1) Public sector (1) LRD average pay deals (2) 2002

February 2.8 2.6 2.8 2.7 4.7 3.0

March 3.4 3.0 3.2 3.2 4.4 2.8

April 3.9 3.3 4.0 4.0 3.5 3.0

May 4.0 3.4 4.2 4.1 3.5 3.0

June 3.8 3.7 3.9 3.8 3.5 3.0

July 4.1 3.7 4.2 4.1 3.9 3.0

August 3.6 3.7 3.6 3.7 3.0 3.0

September 3.7 3.4 3.7 3.6 3.9 3.0

October 3.7 3.9 3.6 3.5 4.1 3.0

November 4.0 4.1 4.1 3.8 4.8 3.0

December 3.4 4.2 3.1 3.0 4.9 3.0

2003

January (r) 3.2 3.8 3.0 2.8 5.0 3.0

February (p) 2.4 4.3 1.9 1.8 5.2 3.1

Headline rate for February3 3.0 4.1 2.7 2.5 5.1

1 Average weekly earnings in Great Britain, seasonally adjusted, as monitored by National Statistics. 2 The midpoint of pay settlements for the latest three months as monitored on the Labour Research Department's PayLine database. 3 The average of the earnings increase figures for the latest three months compared with a year earlier. (r) revised (p) provisional

Retail prices

Retail price index (Jan 1987=100) % annual increase % increase excluding mortgage payments 2002

February 173.8 1.0 2.2

March 174.5 1.3 2.3

April 175.7 1.5 2.3

May 176.2 1.1 1.8

June 176.2 1.0 1.5

July 175.9 1.5 2.0

August 176.4 1.4 1.9

September 177.6 1.7 2.1

October 177.9 2.1 2.3

November 178.2 2.6 2.8

December 178.5 2.9 2.7

2003

January 178.4 2.9 2.7

February 179.3 3.2 3.0

March 179.9 3.1 3.0

Source: National Statistics

Full-time average weekly earnings

£pw

All workers 474.90

All male 525.10

All female 391.80

All non-manual 526.70

Female non-manual 414.10

Male non-manual 623.80

All manual 355.20

Female manual 256.50

Male manual 376.30

Source: New Earnings Survey April 2002 figures updated by rise in average earnings between April and February.

Inflation and Earnings Forecasts

2003 2004

Retail Price Index

Average rise 2.6 2.7

Range 1.8-3.9 1.5-4.0

Earnings, whole economy

Average rise 3.9 4.2

Range 2.8-4.7 3.2-5.8

Figures are for fourth quarter of year. Average of around 40 independent forecasts published by the Treasury.