Settlements post 2.3% rise
Collectively agreed pay deals were higher, at 2.3%, in April.
Settlements from Labour Research Department’s Payline database for the three months from February to April show a 2.3% midpoint (median) increase on lowest pay rate. That’s an increase on the 2.0% rises for the previous three months.
The 2.3% figure includes the influence of the introduction in April of the National Living Wage. However, if the standard increase — what most grades or workers got — is taken, the midpoint increase was steady at 2.0%.
Pay analysts XpertHR saw their median rise for the whole economy dip to 1.7%, dragged down by public sector settlements.
Official Average Weekly Earnings figures for total pay, including bonuses, showed 2.0% rise in the three months to March for the whole economy, against a 1.9% rise for the three-months ending February.
In manufacturing, growth was steady at 1.7%, and services growth was unchanged at 1.6%.
For the private sector as a whole, the increase was 2.1% against 2.0% the previous month. In the public sector, including financial services, earnings growth was down to 0.6% from 0.8%; if financial services are excluded, growth was up to 1.6% from 1.4%.
The three-monthly rises in regular pay, excluding bonuses, for March were: whole economy 2.1% (2.2% in February); private sector 2.3% (2.5%); public sector, including financial services 1.5% (1.4%); services 1.9% (1.9%); and manufacturing 1.9% (2.0%).