Pay deals maintain steady rise reaching 3.5%

The latest figures from the LRD PayLine database show settlements moving up to a new three-monthly median of 3.5%. This was the figure in both August and September, up from 3.3% in July.

It is too early to draw any conclusions from the new payround starting in August but the three months to September show a narrowing of settlements. The private sector median of 3.2% varies somewhat from the public sector median of 3.5% and services at 3.5% are running a little ahead of manufacturing at 3.2%.

Other analysts show a mixed picture. Incomes Data Services have a third quarter median of 3.2%, whilst Industrial Relations Services show a median for the three months to August of 3.0%. The CBI has a newly published figure for manufacturing industry settlements for the three months to July of 2.8%.

Prices

The latest inflation figures show both the headline and underlying rates for the year to September of 2.8%, down from 2.9% in August. The average of independent forecasts for the fourth quarter of 2003 is 2.6% for both headline and underlying inflation.

Average earnings

There are quite a few revisions to the average earnings table as National Statistics have rebased the figures 2000 from 1995.