Private sector pay settlements at 3%

Pay settlements are still averaging 3%, according to the Labour Research Department’s database of collective agreements.

Payline, which monitors agreements across all UK sectors, shows the median basic pay rise in the three months to March to be 3.0% — the same rise as for the first two months of 2012.

The 3.0% figure applies to all sectors, bar one and that is the public sector where average settlements are only 1.5%.

An LRD analysis of the latest pay round starting August 2011, published in Workplace Report, covers over 300 settlements. And the trend in the private sector shows deals holding up well with a 3.0% median rise — the same rise as reported in the 2010-11 pay round as whole.

The 3.0% figure is consistent across both private production industries (manufacturing, utilities and construction) and private services.

LRD pay analyst Lewis Emery said: “There is some evidence — from a matched sample — to suggest that the trend is upwards rather than downwards.”

The survey found three private sector settlements that are higher this pay round than in 2010-11 for every two private sector settlements that are lower.

www.lrd.org.uk/index.php?pagid=18