Average weekly earnings in real terms – adjusted for price inflation – fell by 0.3%, including bonuses, compared with a year earlier, according to estimates from the Office for National Statistics.
The October UK Labour Market statistics revealed that average regular pay (excluding bonuses) was £459 per week before tax and other deductions, £14 lower than the pre-downturn peak of £473 per week recorded for March 2008.
Despite falling weekly earnings, the employment rate continues to rise and now stands at 75.1%, up from 74.5% a year earlier. Overall, there were 32.10 million people in work, 94,000 more than for March to May 2017 and 317,000 more than for a year earlier.
Conor D’Arcy, senior policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, commented: ‘New data on jobs, pay and inflation continued the plot of recent months: an impressively high employment rate twinned with woeful wage growth that’s unable to keep up with prices.’
