Pay medians holding up

The median pay increase in the three-month period from June to August slipped slightly lower to 2%, (from 2.13% in June and 2.5% in May), based on 74 agreements, according to LRD’s Payline database.

Union negotiators should note that this is one percentage point higher than the median figure released by pay analysts Incomes Data Services (IDS), who put the mid-point at just 1%.

The difference may reflect weaker pay bargaining in non-unionised organisations, which are less well represented on Payline. But it is likely also to be connected to the number of long-term deals in LRD’s figures, which continue to hold up the median increase, with few employers reneging on such agreements (see box). However, new deals recorded on Payline showed a median of 1.5% (from 46 deals) – still higher than the IDS figure.

Among the pay settlements recorded in this three-month period, there were 16 pay freezes (22%), 14 of which came in new agreements (equivalent to 30% of new deals).

The figures suggest no change in the imposition of freezes, with the much-vaunted “green shoots” of economic recovery as yet giving no indication of respite. However, although pay deal activity is low in summer, for the first month this year there have been no freezes recorded in August.

The October issue of Workplace Report will carry a full analysis of the year’s pay round of negotiated deals, including pay freezes.