Britain’s workers have experienced strong pay increases for the third month in a row. Figures on the jobs market, just released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), reveal that pay rose 6 per cent in the final three months of 2024 – the fastest pace of pay growth in over a year. Strip out inflation, and the average worker saw a 2.5 per cent pay increase – the highest real terms pay rise for three years.
While more money in pockets is obviously good news for the workforce, these figures will be ringing alarm bells at the Bank of England. The Bank’s interest rate setters see pay increases as an important indicator for inflation and give the jobs market figures great weight when deciding whether to pause rate cuts.
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