UK Pay Growth Slows to 4.1% as Vacancies Fall to 707,000 Five-Year Low
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 18
UK Pay Growth Slows to 4.1% as Vacancies Fall to 707,000 Five-Year Low
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 18
Summary
Total UK earnings growth eased to 4.1% in the three months to June from 4.4%, while pay excluding bonuses unexpectedly edged up to 3.5%, suggesting a softer but not collapsing labour market.
707,000 vacancies in May-to-July marked the lowest level since spring 2021, and payroll employment fell by another 13,000 in July as smaller firms faced higher employment costs.
Private-sector regular pay growth slowed to 2.8%—the weakest since October 2020—while public-sector pay accelerated to 6.1%, largely because NHS pay awards were paid earlier this year.
Unemployment held at 4.9%, but rising energy bills are expected to push July inflation close to 3%, threatening to erode the 1.3% real pay growth households still had in June.
The figures complicate Andy Burnham's effort to ease living-cost pressure and may strengthen the case for the Bank of England to pause further rate increases if labour-market weakness deepens.