Gulf between public and private sectors lies behind UK pay growth reports

theguardian.com:

Pay growth is picking up, official figures showed this week, but for key workers on the pandemic frontline the champagne is firmly on ice.

The detail behind annual pay growth of 4.9% in December revealed the gulf between the size of awards being handed to public sector workers, and those in the private sector, boosted in part by swelling banker bonuses.

At the headline level, private sector wage growth including bonuses picked up to 5.4% in December, more than double the 2.5% growth rate in the public sector, according to the Office for National Statistics. With inflation running at 5.4% in the same month – and expected to rise to more than 7% by April – the squeeze on incomes is already a reality for many of those keeping public services running in the most challenging conditions.

Workers in the finance and insurance sector enjoyed annual wage growth, including bonuses, of 21.6% in December – quadruple the rate of inflation.

Fuelled by a bumper bonus season in the City, the figure represents the biggest jump since January 2011. Excluding one-off awards, finance and insurance pay still rose at an inflation-beating 7%. Meanwhile, wage growth in real estate soared by more than 14%.

In contrast, pay growth for health and social workers was below the rate of inflation at 4.5%. Progress on pay was worse still in public administration, at 2.1%, and was just 0.3% in the education sector. Pay in the arts, entertainment and recreation fell by 6.9% before inflation is even taken into account.

“The good times may be back for the City. But it’s a different story for everyone else,” said Frances O’Grady, the general secretary of the TUC. “While banking executives coin it in, millions of families are suffering the worst squeeze on real