Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have revealed that UK pay growth reached an 11-year high in the three months from April to June this year, with wages growing by 3.9 per cent. Average wages across Great Britain now stand at £505 a week.
However, the ONS said that despite the recent growth in wages, real-terms pay remains £4 below its April 2008 pre-recession peak.
The figures are the first to be published since increases in the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and the National Living Wage (NLW) came into effect in April. April’s increase in the NLW was a 4.9 per cent increase on the previous year and is cited by the ONS as a potential contributing factor in the increase, as was a record number of women in work.
The ONS also cited a 3.9 per cent rise in public sector annual pay, which is now at its highest since May 2010, and an increase in average earnings in the construction sector of 5.9 per cent as factors in wage growth across the UK. Finance and business services also outperformed the economy as a whole with wage growth of 4.6 per cent. However, manufacturing, wholesaling, retailing, hotels and restaurants all slower wage growth of 2.4 per cent.
The ONS cautioned that the figures do not only reflect pay rises but also increases in the number of paid hours worked and may reflect a growth in high-paid jobs.
Figures published at the same time show that the number of people on a zero-hours contract has risen to 896,000 from 791,000 a year ago
The figures come just a week after figures for the same period showed that the economy shrank by 0.2 per cent. This is the first time the economy has shrunk since 2012.