Pay growth still sluggish in UK manufacturing
WAGE growth remains stagnant and well below current levels of consumer price inflation, manufacturers’ group EEF announced today.
Average pay settlements came in at 2.4 per cent for the three months to March, the same figure as recorded a month earlier.
“Almost four in five settlements are at three per cent or less,” according to EEF’s monthly survey, which covers over 40,000 employees in the manufacturing sector.
Wage settlements in UK factories have edged up only slightly since December’s three-month average of 2.2 per cent, with around one in eight wage negotiations still ending in a pay freeze.
However, the proportion of settlements ending in a rise of two per cent or more is edging upwards, from 53.1 per cent in January’s survey; measuring 57.8 per cent in February’s survey; and 60.2 per cent in the latest survey.
Across all sectors, regular pay (excluding bonuses) rose by an annualised two per cent in the three months to February, the Office for National Statistics said last week.
Eyeing the next set of data, EEF said April is the second most common month for settling pay negotiations.