Employers have been awarding a median 2% pay award throughout 2017, analysis has revealed.
Despite unemployment falling and inflation rising through the year, employers have refused to budge from the muted pay increases they have favoured for a large part of the past five years. In the latest period, pay analyst XpertHR has recorded pay awards across the economy at 2% in every rolling quarter since the three months to the end of December 2017.
XpertHR’s pay forecasts survey has found that private sector employers will continue to award pay rises at a 2% median through 2018. Half of all pay awards next year are forecast to be worth between 1.8% and 3%, although 2% is by far the most common pay award expected, accounting for 32.4% of predictions. And while employers expect to feel some pressure on next year’s pay awards from the pay rates offered by their competitors, many are concerned that pensions costs will impact negatively on the budgets they have available to reward their staff.
Latest pay award findings
Based on a sample of 42 basic pay awards effective between 1 September and 30 November 2017, analysis found that:
Over the 12 months to the end of November 2017, the median pay award in the private sector is 2%, compared with 1% in the public sector.