Key economic indicators

Earnings and pay

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

April 4.1 3.6 4.1 4.2 3.4 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 3.3 3.8 3.1 2.9 5.1 3.0

February 2.6 4.4 2.0 1.9 5.2 3.0

March (r) 4.4 6.5 4.1 4.2 5.1 3.0

April (p) 2.6 2.5 2.6 2.0 5.3 3.1

Headline rate for April3 3.2 4.5 2.9 2.7 5.2

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

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

April 181.2 3.1 3.0

May 181.5 3.0 2.9

Source: National Statistics

Full-time average weekly earnings

£pw

All workers 476.80

All male 527.20

All female 393.40

All non-manual 528.80

Female non-manual 415.70

Male non-manual 626.30

All manual 356.60

Female manual 257.50

Male manual 377.80

Source: New Earnings Survey April 2002 figures updated by rise in average earnings between April 2002 and April 2003.

Inflation and Earnings Forecasts

2003 2004

Retail Price Index

Average rise 2.6 2.8

Range 1.8-3.8 1.7-4.0

Earnings, whole economy

Average rise 3.8 4.3

Range 2.8-4.3 3.1-5.5

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