MNI: UK March Pay Awards Steady At 4-Year High: XpertHR

--UK Jan-Mar Pay Median Pay Deals 2.5% 

--Pay Deals Unchanged From Jan And Feb Highs

By Jai Lakhani

     LONDON (MNI) - UK median pay deals in the three months through March came

in at 2.5%, unchanged from the joint four-year highs seen in both January and

February, a survey by XpertHR found. 

     The pickup in pay settlements was reported across the private sector, with

deals across the manufacturing and production sector remaining steady at 2.6% in

the last rolling quarter, which is their highest level since June 2012. The

service industries pencilled in a median 2.5% benchmark pay -- the highest since

March 2012. 

     As a whole, this is the longest period since early 2012 that pay awards

have been worth more than 2%, with the most common pay award standing at 2.5%. 

     The signs suggest these new higher rates of pay are solidifying. The middle

half of all pay awards are worth between 2% and 3% which is significantly higher

than the 1.5% to 2.3% range recorded in the same period a year ago. Furthermore

61.5% of deals are worth more than those paid to the same employees a year ago. 

     "We are now seeing a definite upturn in the level of pay awards made by

employers. And early indicators from some April pay awards -- the busiest month

in the pay setting calendar -- are that 2.5% will become the benchmark pay award

for 2018," Sheila Attwood, XpertHR pay and benefits editor, said

     The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee's central forecast is for a

pick-up in earnings growth this year. The BOE's February Inflation projections

were based on headline average weekly earnings growth rising to 3% in 2018 from

2.5% in 2017 and on up to 3.25% in 2019. 

     Official data, released last Tuesday, reported the first positive real wage

growth for the first time after nine consecutive months of erosion. 

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

--MNI London Bureau; +44 203 865 3828; email: jai.lakhani@marketnews.com

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