According to Incomes Data Research’s (IDR) latest figures, the UK median pay increase for the three-month period ending August remained at 4%.
IDR data revealed that almost a quarter of all deals (24%) included wage increases greater than 5%, which is a growth of 9% from the previous month.
In the last three months, 56% of the deals awarded included pay increases between 4% to 4.99%. IDR said that these results were largely due to the deals made in manufacturing and public sector.
The median private sector pay award dropped from 4.4% to 4.1% in the previous period of analysis due to a lower number of deals valued at more than 5%.
Around a fifth of the wage increases in the three months up to August were at this level, a decrease from the previous quarter. IDR stated that this reduction was mainly due to changes in how private service pay is distributed.
In the manufacturing sector, one out of five deals was at 5% or higher. This is the same percentage as in July. The latest analysis shows that awards between 3.0% to 3.99% rose by 5% from 19% to almost a quarter (24%). This brings the median of the manufacturing sector down from 4.3% (in July) to 4%.
The public sector saw deals that were slightly higher in value than those of the private sector during the three-month period ending August. This was a rise of 4.5 percent on average.
IDR Senior Researcher Zoe Woolacott stated: “The different outcomes in the public and private sectors reflect the pay cycle between the two. The public sector is currently in a ‘catching up’ phase after a long period where pay awards were behind those in private sector.”
These figures, which include more than 740,000 workers at mostly large organizations, are based upon 39 pay agreements that were in effect between 1 June to 31 August.
IDR reported that despite the downward trend in median pay, awards are still above inflation. It warned that deals will also drop if the inflation rate falls even further.
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