Pay deals clustered around 2%

Despite rising inflation there is, as yet, no sign of a ramping up of pay deals according to research data on January settlements, the second most common month for pay awards to take effect ahead of April. Most settlements are at or around a 2% benchmark.

• XpertHR’s latest survey shows a return to the 2% benchmark award that it has recorded for most of the past year. Employers are, says XpertHR, sticking close to the median award, with one-third of deals set at exactly 2%, and half of all pay awards within a 0.8 percentage point range around the median, from 1.5% to 2.3%.
• The latest data from the Labour Research Department shows that for the three months from November-January 2017, the median standard increase was 2.1%.
• The Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) shows the three-month average pay settlement for manufacturers in January was 1.9%, with the average pay deal in January at 2%. Between November and January, two-thirds of pay deals were agreed at or below 2%. The EEF shows a ‘slight uptick’ in the proportion of deals agreed above 2%. These accounted for one in three pay settlements in the three months to January, most of which fell in the 2-3% range. Pay deals above 3% ‘remain few and far between’, accounting for only 3% of settlements.