Pay awards maintain strength at 3.5%

Pay deals during the first quarter of the year remain high, but low awards for public sector employees look set to pull our headline measure down in April.

Is 3.5% the new pay benchmark?
Snapshot of April 2007 awards
IRS pay databank – key findings
Labour market tightens
Table 1: Private sector pay awards, March 2006 to March 2007
Chart 1: Pay review pattern (whole-economy)
Table 2: Whole-economy pay awards, March 2006 to March 2007
Box 1: State of play in key negotiations

The latest findings from the IRS pay databank confirm the higher pattern of pay settlements that we have reported since the beginning of the year.