UK wages grew much more than expected and at a record annual pace in the three months to June, according to official figures that are likely to reinforce the Bank of England’s (BoE) concerns over the pressures fuelling inflation.
In April to June, annual growth in regular pay, which excludes bonuses, was 7.8 per cent, according to data published on Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics. That is the highest regular annual growth rate since comparable records began in 2001 and pushed nominal pay above price growth for the first time in more than a year.
Annual growth in employees’ average total pay, which includes bonuses, was 8.2 per cent in the three months to June, up from 7.2 per cent in the three months to May and the largest annual growth rate seen outside the coronavirus pandemic period.
The annual rate of growth in total pay was affected by one-off bonus payments made by the government to NHS staff in June, but both key measures of wage pressures far exceeded analysts’ expectations.
