The average level of pay settlements recorded in the three months to the end of October 2006 was 3%, slightly higher than the figure for the previous three month period of 2.8%.
During the three months to the end of October 2006, the number of companies reporting that they had frozen pay rose slightly to just over 5% of all settlements. The number of companies reporting that they had deferred their pay settlement also rose to just over 2.5% of all settlements, the highest figure since January 2006.
Commenting on these latest figures, David Yeandle, EEF Deputy Director of Employment Policy, said:-
"Although this is the highest level of pay settlements reported for nearly 2 years, there is also mixed evidence with relatively high levels of pay freezes and deferrals. We will have a clearer picture of the future direction of manufacturing pay settlements when the figures include settlements reached in January 2007, the main month for pay negotiations in manufacturing."
Settlement level - per cent
Number of settlements
Zero (pay freeze)
8
0.01-2.00
7 (4 at 2 per cent exactly)
2.01-3.00
90 (52 at 3 per cent exactly)
3.01-4.00
42 (6 at 4 per cent exactly)
4.00 or more
9
The November 2006 Pay Bulletin contains information on 156 settlements covering 28,771 employees. Of these, the average settlement level was 2.7% in August 2006, 2.9% in September 2006 and 3.2% in October 2006 although the figures for all of these months were based on relatively small samples of settlements. These figures may be subject to revision to take into account settlements for this period that have not yet been received.