This is the third consecutive rolling quarter in which pay awards have been recorded at 2.5% – marking the longest period of time since early 2012 that pay awards have been worth more than 2%.
There are several other indicators that suggest that this new higher rate of pay awards is here to stay:
- the middle half of all pay awards are worth between 2% and 3%, up on the 1.5% to 2.3% range recorded in the same period a year ago;
- the most common pay award is now 2.5%, having been stuck at 2% for many years; and
- higher pay awards dominate our sample, with 61.5% of deals worth more than was paid to the same employees a year ago.
Pay awards in the manufacturing-and-production sector have remained steady at 2.6% in the latest rolling quarter, keeping them at their highest level since June 2012. The services sector median pay award of 2.5% is at its highest level since March 2012.
XpertHR pay and benefits editor Sheila Attwood said:
“We are now seeing a definite upturn in the level of pay awards made by employers. And early indications from some April pay awards – the busiest month in the pay setting calendar – are that 2.5% will become the benchmark pay award for 2018.”
