Average pay rose 6.4% in the three months to November, the strongest growth in 20 years excluding the pandemic period, but there’s a chasm between public and private earnings.
Private sector settlements ran at 7.2%, the upward pressure driven largely by labour shortages that have defined the jobs market since the pandemic.
In the public sector wages rose by just 3.3%, a gap of almost 4% that is impacting the ability to recruit and retain staff and fermenting discontent in the labour force.
