At the halfway point in the year, pay awards remain high but continue to lag behind inflation, implying many employees are still facing a real-terms cut.
XpertHR's latest analysis of pay settlement trends takes in April pay reviews, the most common month in the year for this activity. The data reveals no let-up in pay pressures, with the median standing firm on the level recorded in the first quarter of the year.
XpertHR's headline measure of basic pay awards remains unchanged in the three months to the end of March 2023, with April settlements likely to follow suit.
In early 2023 pay awards reached a 32-year high on the back of a tight labour market and cost-of-living crisis. Our latest survey looks are how organisations are planning to compensate their workforce this year.
XpertHR's headline measure of basic pay awards has risen to 6% over the three months to the end of January 2023, one percentage point higher than in the previous rolling quarter, reaching a 32-year high.
As 2023 dawns it appears likely that pay awards will continue to lag behind inflation over the next 12 months, with the resulting cut in real wages set to hit employees hard.
From January 2010, the average earnings index was replaced by the average weekly earnings series as the Office for National Statistics' official measure of earnings growth. Here we explain how to use the statistics, and what they tell us about what is happening to pay growth.