UK Wages Showing Signs of Positive Growth

Despite a worrying graph showing the UK wage collapse since 2010 compared to other nations, there are now signs that wages in the UK are beginning to rise. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recently reported that average weekly earnings have increased by 3.4% over the past year, with growth in all sectors except retail and hospitality. This is a positive sign for the economy, as it indicates that businesses are starting to invest more money into their employees and are beginning to pay higher wages. This is likely due to an increase in demand for workers as the economy recovers from the pandemic-induced recession. The ONS also reported that wages have grown faster than inflation over the past year, meaning that people’s real incomes have increased. This is especially true for those on lower incomes who have seen their wages grow faster than those on higher incomes. This could be due to government policies such as increasing the minimum wage and introducing Universal Credit payments which help those on lower incomes get back into work or stay in work during difficult times. It is important to note however, that despite these encouraging signs of wage growth, there remains a large gap between UK wages and those of other countries such as Germany and France which still remain significantly higher than here in Britain. It will take some time before we can close this gap but with continued investment from businesses into their employees’ salaries we can begin to make progress towards achieving this goal. Overall, while there may still be cause for concern about how far behind our peers we remain when it comes to wages, recent figures show promising signs of improvement which should give us hope for better times ahead when it comes to salaries here in Britain.