Wages outpace inflation for the 18th consecutive month
Wages for UK workers have continued to grow, as new figures released today show wages have been rising faster than inflation for a year and a half, growing by 1.9% in real terms on last year.
The number of people in work is up 369,000 on last year. This means more workers across the UK are benefiting from greater financial security and increased spending power than a year ago.
The government continues to support families with the cost of living, ensuring they can keep more of what they earn. This includes raising the personal tax allowance and increasing the National Living Wage 鈥� which has boosted earnings for 2.4 million workers since 1 April.聽
Job opportunities for UK workers also continue to grow聽as we have seen 292,000 more people employed in the private sector in the last year.
The UK聽labour market has seen聽over 1.8 million more women in employment since 2010,聽a testament to the government鈥檚 dedication to tackling potential barriers to work for women in search of a new career 鈥� including those who need to work flexibly to fit around family life.
Minister for Employment, Mims Davies said:
鈥淲ages are consistently rising faster than inflation 鈥� now for over a year and a half 鈥� meaning we鈥檙e seeing a sustained boost in pay, supporting consumer confidence and giving a vital lift to millions of households who gain from greater financial security.
鈥淭his joint record employment rate and decades-low unemployment shows our labour market is booming. It鈥檚 especially pleasing to see continued record female employment at 72.1%, signalling the great strides we鈥檝e made in empowering women in the workplace, whatever their background.
鈥淭here is still more to do. But today鈥檚 positive figures again show a thriving, diverse and resilient labour market to be proud of, and we are in great shape for Brexit on 31 October.鈥�
Today鈥檚 figures from the Office for National Statistics also show that the number of people in employment has risen on the year聽with the South East聽and the East Midlands seeing the biggest rise in employment at 148,000聽and 74,000聽respectively; evidence that workers up and down the country are able to pursue employment, regardless of background.
Since 2010, we have seen 2.8 million more people employed in higher skilled roles, which generally command a higher wage. The UK聽labour market remains in a strong position as the UK prepares to leave the EU.
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