Public sector workers saw their wages rise by 1.5% in the quarter to April compared to a year earlier. Prices have risen much faster, with the current inflation rate at 9%. Private-sector workers saw an average pay rise of 8 percent over the period, according to the National Statistics Office. Across the economy, real wages, adjusted for inflation and excluding bonuses, fell by 2.2%. In April alone, wages fell 4.5% when adjusted for rising prices. It is the biggest drop since records began in January 2001. When bonus payments are included, real winnings increased by 0.4%, mainly due to the big payday in the City of London. Bankers and professional workers received “extremely high” bonuses in March, the ONS reported. Profits in financial and professional services as a whole increased by 10.6%. While the city received the largest increase in bonus payments, several other sectors also rose, the ONS reported. Wholesale, retail, hotels and restaurants saw pay rises of 8.4 percent from February to April 2022. However, the figures were compared with data 12 months earlier, when large numbers of hospitality workers were on leave. The decline in real wages throughout the economy as a whole came despite falling unemployment near the lowest level in 50 years. The official unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percent to 3.8 percent, which means it is below pre-pandemic levels. The number of paid employees in the UK increased by a further 90,000 (0.3%) between April and May to 29.6 million. Vacancies also rose to a new record of 1.3 million. However, hundreds of thousands of people have left the job market since the pandemic began due to factors such as long-term Covid, mental illness aggravated by lockdowns or the decision to retire early. They are not counted in the unemployment rate as they are not looking for work at the moment. Experts have warned that not enough people are looking for jobs and that a shortage of workers could begin to hamper economic growth. Neil Carberry, chief executive of the Confederation of Employment and Employment, said the record number of vacancies meant it was a “great time” to look for work. He added: “But employment is still lower than in the pre-pandemic [times]and while economic inactivity is declining this quarter, it is still much higher than it was two years ago. “There is still no sign of an economic slowdown affecting the labor market, but if we do not address the fact that there are not enough people looking for work, this could put another deterrent to UK economic growth.” The UK is also heading closer to recession this year, as the economy shrank unexpectedly in April. Sam Beckett, head of financial statistics at ONS, said the data continued to show a “mixed picture” of the job market. “While the number of workers is rising again in the three months to April, the number remains below pre-pandemic levels. “Moreover, although the number of people who are neither working nor looking for work has decreased slightly in recent times, he remains well at where he was before the advent of Covid-19. He added: “The high level of bonuses continues to reduce the impact of price increases on the total earnings of some employees, but with the exception of bonuses, wages in real terms are falling at their fastest rate in over a decade.” “With record job vacancies and inflation at the highest level in 40 years, ministers have shown utter complacency about huge levels of economic inactivity,” said Jonathan Asworth, the Labor party’s shadow labor and pension minister. Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the evidence showed that the labor market “remains strong with redundancies at an all-time low”.
