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Pay rises average 2.5% as wage growth steadily on the up
Pay rises from major British employers averaged at 2.5% last month, a more generous rate than the same month in 2017, according to industry data released on Thursday.
The data was provided by XpertHR, a firm that monitors wage deals, said the median pay deal offered by employers in April was 2.%, matching the trend so far this year and increasing from the 2% median of April last year.
Sheila Attwood, XpertHR's pay and benefits editor, said: "Recruitment and retention pressures, and therefore salaries in competitor organisations, are helping to drive up settlement levels."
Two thirds of employers are offering larger pay rises than in 2017 and wage growth has been slowly increasing throughout the year, something which the Bank of England is monitoring to gauge whether the economy is strong enough to sustain an increase in interest rates.
April is a particularly important month for wage growth as 40% of pay deals take effect in the month, with that rising to 60% among public sector workers.
Public sector pay increases have been slower than the average wage growth however, but pay restraints for prison guards, nurses and hospital staff have been loosened.
Meanwhile, the UK's unemployment rate is at its lowest since 1975, with employers even reporting difficulty finding staff as immigration from the EU has faltered in the wake of the Brexit vote.