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Wages catch up with inflation for first time in six years

Wages have caught up with the rate of inflation for the first time in six years, this week’s ONS data has shown.

Weekly wages, including bonuses, rose by 1.7% in the year to February, up from 1.4% in January. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation stood at 1.7% in February and fell to 1.6% in March.

The news came at the same time as a rise in employment of 240,000 across the three months to February.

Matthew Whittaker, chief economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Today is a significant moment - from now on many workers can expect to feel they are at least breaking even again.

“The good news on wages and employment is genuine, but its effects won’t be felt uniformly across the population just yet. Pay growth still lags inflation on some measures and the growing number of self-employed are not included in these wages figures.

“Finally, the fact that we may now be emerging from the longest pay squeeze in living memory means there is a huge catch-up on wages that still needs to happen.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .