XpertHR survey: UK employees’ pay rises stuck at two per cent in the last three month to July
UK pay rises stalled in the three months to July, with employers feeling unable, or seeing no need, to offer workers better deals.
Basic pay awards in the three months to the end of July stood at two per cent, unchanged since April 2014, according to a survey by XpertHR.
The XpertHR pay measure tracks the increase in pay levels made by employers at their annual pay review – that's different to the ONS figures, which measure total earnings divided by the number of workers.
It collected details of 84 pay awards with effective dates between 1 May and 31 July this year, collectively covering more than 800,000 workers.
The official figures released earlier this month showed annual wages, including bonuses, rose 2.4 per cent in the three months to June. This represented a slowdown from 3.2 per cent growth seen in the three months to May, and it also missed economists' expectations.
Bank of England policymakers have said official wage growth data will be a key metric for when it decides to hikes interest rates from the record low 0.5 per cent. This is a decision governor Mark Carney has said will come into sharper focus around the turn of this year.