Labour Research May 2011

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators

Inflation +5.3%, Average earnings +1.3%

Earnings and pay

% annual rise in average weekly earnings1 % rise in LRD pay deals2
Whole economy Manu-facturing Services Private sector Public sector3
Feb 2010 (r) 5.8 5.4 6.0 6.8 2.6 2.0
March 6.8 9.5 6.4 7.3 3.1 2.0
April 0.4 3.7 0.3 -0.5 2.0 2.0
May 0.9 4.1 1.0 0.9 -0.2 2.0
June 1.1 3.2 0.9 0.1 2.2 2.1
July 1.8 4.7 1.8 1.7 1.9 2.2
August 2.1 4.2 2.1 1.9 1.8 2.2
September 2.2 3.9 2.3 2.0 2.2 2.1
October 2.0 3.9 2.4 2.0 2.3 2.4
November 2.1 2.9 2.5 2.0 2.3 2.5
December 1.2 1.3 1.7 1.1 2.1 2.5
Jan 2011 (r) 3.7 2.3 4.2 4.2 2.4 3.0
February (p) 1.3 0.0 1.0 0.6 2.0 3.0
Headline rate4 for February 2.0 1.2 2.3 1.9 2.2

1Increases in average weekly earnings across industrial sectors in Great Britain, seasonally adjusted, as monitored by National Statistics.

2 Midpoint pay increase among settlements reached in the previous three months, as recorded on the Labour Research Department’s Payline database.

3 Excludes financial services.

4 Average of the earnings increase figures for the latest three months compared with a year earlier.

(r) revised (p) provisional

Inflation

Retail Prices Index1 (RPI) % annual increase in RPI % annual increase in Consumer Prices Index
October 2009 216.0 -0.8 1.5
November 216.6 0.3 1.9
December 218.0 2.4 2.9
January 2010 217.9 3.7 3.5
February 219.2 3.7 3.0
March 220.7 4.4 3.4
April 222.8 5.3 3.7
May 223.6 5.1 3.4
June 224.1 5.0 3.2
July 223.6 4.8 3.1
August 224.5 4.7 3.1
September 225.3 4.6 3.1
October 225.8 4.5 3.2
November 226.8 4.7 3.3
December 228.4 4.8 3.7
January 2011 229.0 5.1 4.0
February 231.3 5.5 4.4
March 232.5 5.3 4.0

1 January 1987=100

Source: National Statistics

Full-time average weekly earnings by occupation

All workers £600.70
All male £655.90
All female £515.20
Managers £880.00
Professionals £797.10
Associate professionals1 £619.00
Administrative and secretarial £421.10
Skilled/craft £496.00
Services2 £356.40
Sales £332.20
Operatives £456.10
Other manual jobs3 £354.70

1 Includes technicians, police, firefighters, nurses, media/PR workers, train drivers, legal and finance workers and sales reps.

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.

Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2010 (uprated)