Labour Research September 2025

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators

INFLATION (RPI) +4.8% AVERAGE EARNINGS (ONS regular) +5.0%

Earnings and pay

% increase11 Whole economy Manufacturing Services Private sector Public sector2 LRD pay deals3
April 5.7% 6.1% 5.9% 5.5% 5.9% 5.0%
May 5.4% 5.9% 5.5% 5.2% 6.4% 5.0%
June 5.4% 5.8% 5.4% 5.3% 5.6% 5.0%
July 5.2% 6.2% 5.2% 5.2% 5.0% 4.8%
August 4.9% 5.8% 4.9% 4.9% 4.8% 4.9%
September 5.1% 6.2% 5.1% 5.3% 3.9% 4.5%
October 6.1% 6.1% 6.1% 6.6% 4.4% 4.3%
November 5.6% 5.9% 5.5% 5.8% 4.6% 4.0%
December 6.0% 5.7% 6.1% 6.0% 6.2% 4.0%
January 2025 5.9% 5.7% 5.9% 5.9% 6.1% 3.7%
February 5.8% 5.6% 5.8% 5.8% 6.2% 3.6%
March 4.9% 5.2% 4.9% 4.9% 5.6% 3.5%
April 5.1% 4.8% 5.0% 4.9% 6.2% 4.0%
May 5.0% 4.5% 5.2% 4.9% 5.9% 4.0%
June 4.8% 4.6% 4.8% 4.5% 6.2% 4.0%
Headline rate for June 5.0% 4.6% 5.0% 4.8% 6.1%

1 Increases in average weekly earnings (total pay) in Great Britain, seasonally adjusted, as monitored by National Statistics.

2 Excludes financial services

3 Midpoint pay increase among settlements reached in the previous three months, as recorded on the Labour Research Department's Payline database (lowest basic rate).

4 Average of the earnings increase figures for the latest three months compared with a year earlier. Figures may be revised from month to month.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours

Retail Prices Index

Month RPI Value % annual increase in RPI % annual increase in CPIH2
January 2024 378.0 4.9% 4.2%
February 381.0 4.5% 3.8%
March 383.0 4.3% 3.8%
April 385.0 3.3% 3.0%
May 386.4 3.0% 2.8%
June 387.3 2.9% 2.8%
July 387.5 3.6% 3.1%
August 389.9 3.5% 3.1%
September 388.6 2.7% 2.6%
October 390.7 3.4% 3.2%
November 390.9 3.6% 3.5%
December 392.1 3.5% 3.5%
January 2025 391.7 3.6% 3.9%
February 394.0 3.4% 3.7%
March 395.3 3.2% 3.4%
April 402.2 4.5% 4.1%
May 402.9 4.3% 4.0%
June 404.5 4.4% 4.1%
July 406.2 4.8% 4.2%

1 January 1987=100

2 Consumer Prices Index Housing, Source: National Statistics

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices

Full-time average weekly earnings by occupation

All employees £766.41
All male £813.76
All female £706.85
Managers £1,089.05
Professionals £952.88
Associate professionals1 £738.52
Administrative and secretarial £595.93
Skilled/craft £711.37
Services2 £547.95
Sales £542.89
Operatives £673.49
Other manual jobs3 £551.00

1 Includes technicians, police, firefighters, IT technicians, youth workers, legal and finance workers and housing officers.

2 Personal service occupations such as care workers, travel assistants, hairdressers and caretakers.

3 "Elementary" occupations including farm workers, labourers, dockers, postal workers, porters, waiters and cleaners.

Figures re-based to: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2024 full-time median gross weekly earnings uprated by the increase in Average Weekly Earnings (total pay).