Wages overtake prices in some sectors

The median pay rise achieved in agreements for the last three months to February was 5.3% on the lowest basic rate and 5.1% for all other grades according to the Payline database. Pay rises have stayed relatively steady for the last few months, albeit down from their last summer peak of 8%. Pay rises are staying above RPI which is now at 4.5% (slightly down on last month) while CPI is 3.4%. Some workers are achieving pay restoration,but prices remain around 30% higher than they were three years ago.

The latest official earnings figures show regular pay (excludes bonuses) went up by 5.9% over the year to January. The AWE measure of wage growth is down slightly on the previous month and remains varied across industrial sectors.