UK employers offer 5% pay rises in 3 months to January: IDR
British employers are ready for pay settlements with rises averaging 5 per cent during the three months to the end of January, a survey revealed.
Incomes Data Research (IDR) said the median pay rise at major British employers had risen from 4.3 per cent in the three months to the end of October and 3.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2022, Business Times reported.
“Such relatively high increases are likely to continue further into 2023 due in part to the influence of the forthcoming uplift in the National Living Wage... but continued tight labour markets and elevated inflation will play a role too,” Zoe Woolacott, senior researcher at IDR, said.
The National Living Wage, a minimum wage rate that does not apply to apprentices or workers aged under 23, is set to rise by 9.7 per cent at the start of April to £10.42 (S$17) an hour.
The UK is grappling with surging inflation which hit a 41-year high of 11.1 per cent in October and remains in double digits amid the Bank of England's concerns and measures to restore order. Many of its policymakers fear above-average pay rises will slow the fall in inflation.
The IDR published its report just hours before finance minister Jeremy Hunt presented his annual budget statement, against a backdrop of strikes from doctors, nurses, transport workers, and civil servants, who are demanding higher pay rises.