MNI DATA: UK Pay Awards Ease; Expect New Year Pickup: XpertHR

--UK October-December Median Pay Deals 2.0%, Unch Sep-Nov: XpertHR

     LONDON (MNI) - UK median pay deals stood at 2% in the three months to

December, unchanged from the November level, and unchanged on the level a year

ago, a survey by XpertHR found. 

     Year-end typically sees relatively few pay awards and the median figure was

just below a handful of higher pay awards, with the month's sample being

reported as smaller than normal. 

     The New Year tends to mark the start of a wave of pay settlements, and pay

award growth is indeed seen heading back above the 2.5% mark in January,

according to XpertHR.  

     Pay bargaining activity always slows down towards the end of the year, so

our latest figures are based on a smaller sample than normal," . 

     "The 2018 calendar year brought good news for employees as pay awards moved

up from 2% in 2017 to 2.5% over the year as a whole," said Sheila Attwood,

XpertHR pay and benefits editor

     "Despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit outcomes, the first pay awards

of 2019 are moving in a very positive direction, with the provisional 2.8%

median the highest figure we have recorded since December 2008," she added. 

     The XpertHR data softening in October and now November conflicts that

published by the Office for National Statistics. 

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: M$B$$$,M$E$$$]