The new stated rate of pay in the UK averaged 5.9% increase over the past few months. This data has been gathered by us from the recently released provisional Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures. Average pay did increase slightly from the last two year reporting period. Much of this recent progress is fueled by the historic wage hikes seen in public sector.
Liz McKeown, the director of economic statistics at the ONS, said the rise in pay remains “welcome news” for workers. This need is all the more critical with increasing living costs. The public sector has played an important role in helping realize this growth. It’s played an important role in stabilizing wages during economic downturns.
Apart from the general increase in average pay, the National Minimum Wage has been raised significantly. This change is a long-overdue step towards making sure that our nation’s workers are paid what they’re worth. Businesses are now facing additional financial pressures as the amount of National Insurance contributions for employers rose this month, further complicating the economic landscape.
The labor market remains a continued concern. The latest data show that vacancies have dropped to their lowest rate since just before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the March quarter of this year, the numbers of jobs they could find dropped to 781,000. This figure is a drop from the pre-pandemic levels seen in 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic drastically affected the job market, leading to fewer jobs being posted than in previous cycles.
Liz McKeown addressed some discouraging trends in the labor market. She agreed that compensation is dramatically increasing, but she emphasized that the market as a whole continues to be shaky. A drop in job openings indicates that firms don’t want to commit to hiring with so much economic uncertainty and increasing expenses.