“These figures show a stark contrast in the labour market between some impressive employment growth figures, dominated by a rise in full time permanent employment, and continued weakness in wages. Although there is a slight improvement in average earnings growth in money terms, pay is still lagging behind prices and as a consequence real wages are still falling.
“There is little prospect of a sustained recovery in pay over the next year, especially given the very poor productivity figures released earlier this month. The Bank should therefore give more weight to the prospects for pay and productivity than to the rise in employment, and hold off a further interest rate rise.
“The fall in real wages affecting most people in the labour market is a reminder that the challenges around improving the quality of working lives for most people is much bigger than tackling the gig economy alone, and highlights the need for Government to work with employers and unions to tackle the underlying causes of low paid, low quality work.”
