Pay settlements are running at 3.5%, unchanged from the previous quarter, according to pay specialists Industrial Relations Services (IRS).
The latest research showed that the median pay settlement remained buoyant in the private sector after its reported eight-year high last month.
Some 151 out of 186 pay awards registered an identifiable increase in basic pay, the study showed.
Sarah Welfare, IRS Pay and Benefits editor, said: “Pay awards in the private sector remain high, with the hike in headline inflation at the end of last year continuing to feed through to 2007 pay deals.
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“But if the low public sector pay review body awards set the tone for this year’s public sector deals, we would expect this to pull down the whole-economy level of pay awards by April,” she said.
Seven in 10 pay awards in the latest quarter were higher than the previous year, with only 14% lower.
