Pay starts creeping back up after five bad years of high inflation
PRIVATE sector pay is beginning to increase, according to payroll processing firm VocaLink.
For the average worker in a FTSE 350 company, real monthly pay in the three months to February was down £130 compared with the same period five years ago.
By contrast public sector workers’ monthly pay fell £118 from 2009 to 2014. The data illustrates that despite pay freezes in state sector jobs, in fact private workers have been hit hardest by the financial crisis and subsequent recession.
However, VocaLink said the squeeze is at last coming to an end – private sector pay has increased £8 per month this year, compared with incomes at the start of 2013.
By contrast public sector pay is down one per cent in real terms over the same period, amounting to £16 per month, VocaLink said.
It comes as official forecasters predict pay will start outpacing inflation across the whole workforce later this year.