UK saw strong wage growth in late 2023: Indeed

WAGE growth in Britain remained much faster than in the United States and the euro zone at the end of 2023, according to data published by jobs website Indeed that underscores the Bank of England’s worries about inflation pressures in the economy.

Wages rose by 6.6 per cent in the last three months of the year compared with the same period of 2022, slowing only slightly from 6.7 per cent in the three months of the end of November and a peak of 7.4 per cent in mid-2023, the Indeed figures showed on Wednesday.

By comparison, pay growth stood at 3.8 per cent in both the United States and the euro zone in the October-to-December period.

The BoE has raised its benchmark Bank Rate to its highest since 2008 at 5.25 per cent in an attempt to snuff out inflation pressures still in the economy and has said it expects to keep borrowing costs high “for an extended period”.

On Tuesday, data from Britain’s official statistics office showed a cooling in the pace of growth in basic pay to 6.6 per cent in the three months to Nov 30 and many economists have said they expected wage increases to continue to slow in the months ahead. REUTERS