Average earnings

Average weekly earnings for the whole economy, seasonally adjusted, rose by 5.5%, down from the revised rate of 6.5% for January. However, the headline rate - the three-month average rate - rose by 6.0% in February compared to 5.9% in January.

Earnings in the service sector, which rose by 5.6% in February, continued to outstrip those in manufacturing, which saw only a 4.6% increase. Private sector earnings rose overall by 5.7% compared to just 4.5% in the public sector.

The Office for National Statistics has started producing earnings figures broken down so as to show bonus payments. These back up the suggestion that big City Christmas bonuses have been responsible for the high percentage rises in earnings recently.

For example, unadjusted earnings figures for December 1999 rose by 6.3% but, excluding bonuses, the rise was just 3.7% giving a "bonus effect" of 2.6%. Looking at service sector earnings in the same month the rise was 6.4%, including a bonus effect of 2.8%. For February, the unadjusted rise in earnings was 5.6% but the bonus effect was just 0.5%, while the service sector showed a 5.0% rise including a 0.7% bonus effect.