As a result of this, EEF’s pay data for the 3 months to the end of May shows that the average pay settlement has risen to 1.5%. This is the highest level reported since March 2009 and is slightly higher than the revised figure of 1.4% for the previous 3 month period to the end of April.
However, this increase is coming from a record low base of settlement levels and gives no cause for concern that wage settlement pressures are building.
In addition to this reduction in the number of manufacturers freezing pay to less than a third of all settlements, the number of companies reporting that they had deferred their pay settlement also fell very slightly to just under 20% of all reported settlements.
Commenting on these latest figures, David Yeandle, EEF Head of Employment Policy, said:-
"The continued fall in the number of companies freezing or deferring their pay has contributed to the gradual increase in the average level in settlements over recent months. However, they remain at more less a historically low level with no signs that wage inflationary pressures are building up in manufacturing."
|
Settlement level - per cent |
Number of settlements |
|
Pay reduction |
2 |
|
Zero (pay freeze) |
136 |
|
0.01-2.00 |
170 (17 at 1% exactly and 95 at 2% exactly) |
|
2.01-3.00 |
120 (56 at 3% exactly) |
|
3.01-4.00 |
8 (4 at 4% exactly) |
|
4.01 or more |
8 |
The June 2010 Pay Bulletin contains information on 444 settlements covering 75,711 employees. Of these, the average settlement was 1.4% in March 2010, 1.5% in April 2010 and 2.1% in May 2010 although the figure for May 2010 is based on a very small sample. These figures may be subject to revision to take into account settlements for this period that have not yet been received.