Average weekly income (excl. bonuses) rose 2.1% in March in the UK, which is just below the current inflation rate of 2.3%. This is the first fall in real wages in three years. Unions are worried and are calling for action as the country looks to the June general election. Employers are wary of pre-Brexit jobs market movements but are nonetheless struggling to resolve the issue of wages and productivity.
Latest ONS (Office for National Statistics) data indicate that in the three months between January and March British wages rose 2.1% year-on-year. With inflation at 2.3% this translates into a 0.2% fall in real wages, something that has not occurred since the third quarter in 2014. In reaction to the data, a worried TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said, “Today’s fall in real wages risks tipping working people into another living standards crisis. And that poses a major challenge for...
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