PAY DEALS
Signs of pick up in pay deals - IDSPay.co.uk
Private sector pay settlements for 2012 are coming in at higher levels than recorded during most of last year, according to early indications from IDSPay.co.uk. This is due to higher awards in manufacturing, particularly in general engineering and car and components firms.
Among the 30 pay awards recorded so far this year, almost two-thirds are at 3% or above. Many of these awards are subsequent stages under multi-year deals with either guaranteed rises or increases linked to RPI inflation, but new January deals are also coming in above the 2.5% median recorded for much of 2011. Firms in the motor industry – whose awards are watched closely by other manufacturers – have settled at a median of 4%.
IDSPay.co.uk says: “Negotiations in many other parts of the economy are still ongoing, so a complete picture will continue to emerge over the coming weeks.”
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2011 pay awards
The latest analysis by IDS shows that pay settlements in the final quarter of 2011 were at similar levels to those recorded throughout the year, with a median increase of 2.5%. However, the contrast between the level of pay awards in manufacturing and private services continued, with the median in the manufacturing sector at 3.1% while the median for the private services was 2.5%.
Summary of key settlement data
For the three months to the end of December 2011, based on 52 settlements covering 835,000 employees in total, the key IDS statistics are these:
Whole economy median: 2.5%
Whole economy average: 2.4%
Whole economy inter-quartile range: 2.0% to 3.0%
Private sector median: 2.5%
Manufacturing and production median: 3.1%
Private services median: 2.5%
Not-for-profit and related services: 0.9%
A final word
“Private sector pay settlements look like they could be higher on average than last year, but the picture so far is only a partial one. If this turns out to be the case, and inflation continues to fall, private sector workers are likely to welcome the prospect of an easing-off in the squeeze on their incomes that most of them experienced over the past 12 months.” - Ken Mulkearn, Editor of IDS Pay Report.
Want to know more?
IDSPay.co.uk is an online source of all the remuneration data collected by IDS, on pay settlements, pay levels and executive compensation. Visit www.IDSPay.co.uk to see a demonstration or to sign up for a free trial.
IDS Pay Report, published fortnightly, is the UK's “leading source of research and analysis on pay and benefits across the economy”. For details visit www.incomesdata.co.uk or tel: 0845 600 9355.
Incomes Data Services is the “leading UK information and research service on employment issues, providing a range of publications for employers, trade unions, government departments and other agencies”. For more information visit www.incomesdata.co.uk.