Pay rises for the remainder of 2013 are likely to be no more than 2% on average, according to the latest findings from pay specialists XpertHR.
The new analysis covers pay awards made in the three months to the end of July 2013, and shows median pay rises have been stuck at 2% for the last four quarters.
XpertHR pay and benefits editor Sheila Attwood said: “The number of employers awarding pay rises that match or exceed inflation remains low, with the majority of pay awards falling short of the increase in prices. For employees, there is little prospect of higher pay rises as our research suggests that 2% will remain the benchmark pay award for the remainder of the year.”
However, the research shows that private-sector employers are making a wider spread of pay deals, while public-sector deals have been curbed by the Government’s policy of a 1% average pay award.
In the private sector, deals have ranged from a 10% pay cut to a 3.5% pay rise, showing some employers are able to pay higher awards while others are still awarding very low or no increases. Pay awards in the manufacturing sector – at 2.6% – are higher than in the services sector (2%).
The latest findings cover the quiet period of the year for pay bargaining, as April deals no longer form part of the analysis (around 70% of pay awards settle in the first four months of the year).
Every year XpertHR collects details of more than 1,600 pay settlements. The latest quarterly analysis records details of 53 pay awards effective in the three months to the end of July 2013.
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