Exact rate wages are rising revealed and what it means for your money – including pay rise and interest rate cuts
WAGES have risen for millions of workers but at a slower than in previous months.
Growth in regular pay, excluding bonuses, was 6% in the three months to February this year.
That’s according to official figures released today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Taking into account inflation, annual total pay rose by 1.9% (including bonuses).
That was down from 6.1% for the three months to January this year.
If pay rises by less than inflation it squeezes incomes, as it means people’s pay in real terms is worse off.
Inflation is a measure of how much the price of goods and services is rising compared to the same period last year and currently stands at 3.4%.
Vacancies fell by 13,000 quarter on quarter in the three March to 916,000 – the XXX drop in a row.
Director of Economics at ONS Liz McKeown said: “Recent trends of falling vacancy numbers and slowing earnings growth have continued this month albeit at a reduced pace.
“But with the rate of inflation slowing, real earnings growth has increased and is now at its highest rate in nearly two and a half years.”
“At the same time, we are now seeing tentative signs that the jobs Market is beginning to cool, with both a fall in the headline employment rate from our survey and a drop in the total number of people on payrolls from HMRC data.”