Welcome news for workers as wage growth outpaces inflation for first time since 2009
WAGES have beaten inflation for the first time in five years, official data revealed yesterday.
Regular pay – which excludes bonuses – was 1.3 per cent higher in the three months to September than it was in the same period a year ago. With annual consumer price inflation down to 1.2 per cent, it marked the first time since 2009 that real regular pay has risen.
This means wage packets can now buy more goods and services than they could before.
Pay grew even faster in the private sector, climbing 1.6 per cent on the year. Unemployment has also fallen to six per cent in the three months to September from 6.3 per cent in the three months to June – the lowest rate of joblessness for five years.
Trade unionists remain sceptical of the recovery in the jobs market.
“Huge concerns remain about the quality of many of the jobs being created, and as the chancellor has found out to his cost many people are not earning enough to pay much tax, if any,” said Frances O’Grady of the TUC.
The government maintained its upbeat stance on the labour market.
“Two-thirds of the rise in employment since 2010 has actually been in managerial and professional occupations, and if we look at the various rise across sectors, all sectors have grown and an array of jobs within that,” Esther McVey, minister of state for employment, told City A.M.