Wages in both the US and UK are finally on the up, according to the latest figures.
In fact, UK pay has seen the biggest increases for almost a decade, according to the latest Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) figures. Regular pay, excluding bonuses, was 3.1% higher for the three months to the end of August compared with the same quarter last year.
This is the highest level of wage growth the UK has experienced since being in the depths of recession nearly 10 years ago, according to The Guardian. Incomes, including bonuses, rose by 2.7% in the three months to the end of August.
David Freeman, head of labour markets at the ONS, said: "People's regular monthly wage packets grew at their strongest rate in almost a decade, but, allowing for inflation [2.7% in August], the growth was much more subdued.”
The UK’s current unemployment rate is 4%, the joint lowest since the three months to the end of February 1975, the ONS added.
On the other side of the Atlantic, US workers also saw their pay packets expand as weekly wages rose at an annual rate of 3.3% in the third quarter, according to latest figures from the Labor Department. This compares with a 2% increase in the second quarter, reports Channel3000.com.
The US unemployment rate has fallen to the lowest in almost 50 years and the number of job openings reached an all-time high of almost 7.1 million in August, the Labor Department said. On the downside, the number of layoffs rose by 176,000 to hit 1.8 million in the same month.
Gill Oliver is a business and property journalist who has written for The Daily Mail/Mail Online's This is Money, The Press Association and many national and regional newspapers and magazines.
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Wages in both the US and UK are finally on the up, according to the latest figures.
In fact, UK pay has seen the biggest increases for almost a decade, according to the latest Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) figures. Regular pay, excluding bonuses, was 3.1% higher for the three months to the end of August compared with the same quarter last year.
This is the highest level of wage growth the UK has experienced since being in the depths of recession nearly 10 years ago, according to The Guardian. Incomes, including bonuses, rose by 2.7% in the three months to the end of August.
David Freeman, head of labour markets at the ONS, said: "People's regular monthly wage packets grew at their strongest rate in almost a decade, but, allowing for inflation [2.7% in August], the growth was much more subdued.”
The UK’s current unemployment rate is 4%, the joint lowest since the three months to the end of February 1975, the ONS added.
On the other side of the Atlantic, US workers also saw their pay packets expand as weekly wages rose at an annual rate of 3.3% in the third quarter, according to latest figures from the Labor Department. This compares with a 2% increase in the second quarter, reports Channel3000.com.
The US unemployment rate has fallen to the lowest in almost 50 years and the number of job openings reached an all-time high of almost 7.1 million in August, the Labor Department said. On the downside, the number of layoffs rose by 176,000 to hit 1.8 million in the same month.
Gill Oliver is a business and property journalist who has written for The Daily Mail/Mail Online's This is Money, The Press Association and many national and regional newspapers and magazines.
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UK employers owe workers £1.44m due to minimum wage violations
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Washington DC city council votes to repeal minimum wage legislation
