–UK Aug-Oct Median Pay Deals Hold Steady At 2.0%: XpertHR
LONDON (MNI) – UK pay deals have settled at 2.0%, bang-in-line with
the inflation target, but employers expect them to rise in 2012,
according to XpertHR.
XpertHR’s latest survey shows that in the three months through
October the median pay deal was 2.0%, the seventh consecutive rolling
quarter that it has come in at this level. With the late months of 2011
thin ones for pay deals, the spotlight is now on the new year pay round.
The October survey covered just 96 pay awards.
Private sector employers’ median forecast is for pay deals to rise
to 2.5% in 2012, with XpertHR predicting pay deals would end this year
at 2.0%.
The government’s pay freeze is continuing to weigh on pay growth,
with median public sector pay deals zero in the three months through
October.
Some of the more hawkish members of the Bank of England’s Monetary
Policy Committee had warned of the risk of high inflation feeding
through into pay growth, but pay deals have remained subdued this year
and the MPC is now back on the policy easing path.
With employers citing affordability as a key factor in pay deals,
the deterioration in the economic outlook looks set to press down on the
level of pay deals in the new year.
–London newsroom: 0044-7862-7491 email: drobinson@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$B$$$,MABDS$]
