UK wage growth eases at 7.8% as job vacancies fall
In real terms, adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) and including housing costs, total pay rose year-on-year between June and August by 1.3%.
Annual growth in average total pay, excluding bonuses, stood at 7.8% for the three months to August, in line with market consensus. The figure for the previous three-month period was revised upwards to 7.9% from 7.8%.
Including bonuses, the annual growth in employees' average total pay was 8.1% in June to August 2023, falling short of market estimates of 8.3%. In the three months prior to July, it was 8.5%.
In real terms, adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) and including housing costs, total pay rose year-on-year between June and August by 1.3%. Weekly pay rose by 1.1%.
In the public sector, annual average regular pay growth was 6.8% in the period, the highest since ONS records began in 2001.
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However this was beaten by the private sector, where annual pay growth was 8%, among the largest annual growth rates seen outside of the coronavirus pandemic period.
The finance and business services sector saw the largest annual regular growth rate at 9.6%, followed by manufacturing at 8%, one of the highest annual regular growth rates for the sector since 2001.
Alice Haine, personal finance analyst at Bestinvest, said: «Wage growth is still significantly higher than the Bank of England might like…as it continues its quest to bring inflation closer to its target of 2%.
»While high wage growth can ease the financial squeeze for households, it runs the risk of fuelling inflation if businesses pass on that cost to customers by hiking the price of their goods and services.
«This
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